GRANITE FALLS – The state Department of Natural Resources is taking off-road vehicles off another logging road.
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
The department will close the P-5000 road, which runs parallel to the Pilchuck River southeast of Granite Falls, to unauthorized motorized vehicles starting Nov. 15.
The decision to close the area was based primarily on safety, state officials said, but it dismayed off-road vehicle riders who have long used the area.
This year, the P-5000 road has had five accidents involving serious injuries, including one death and one rider paralyzed, said Bill Wallace, the department’s Northwest region manager in Sedro-Woolley.
Mike Leibold, co-owner of Everett Powersports, a motorcycle and off-road vehicle dealer, rued the loss of another riding area. In the 1990s, the department closed state logging roads in the Sultan Basin to off-road vehicles.
P-5000 has been a favorite riding spot for families for 40 years, he said.
“Constantly, we are losing riding areas, and we’re being forced into overcrowding in the areas that still remain,” Leibold said.
Most riders drive responsibly, and many of the safety issues could be avoided with better enforcement of regulations, Leibold said.
Wallace agreed that most riders seem to be driving safely, but the nature of the road makes it more dangerous when there are accidents.
“Apparently, the ORV riders find this relatively flat and gently curving forest road inviting to travel at high speeds,” Wallace said.
The road was closed to cars and trucks in the 1990s, Wallace said. At that time, the department agreed to construct a narrow opening in the gate that would continue to allow access to motorcycles and off-road vehicles. Now, the department will close that gap, too.
Other reasons for the closure include riders constructing unauthorized trails and the large amount of illegal garbage dumping, Wallace said.
“The city of Snohomish continued to express concerns about risk to their water quality,” Wallace said, because the Pilchuck River feeds the city’s municipal water system.
Leibold objected to the idea that off-road vehicle riders are to blame for the garbage. “It’s never the riders who dump those televisions out there,” he said.
Actually, local off-road vehicle associations have regular garbage cleanups at popular riding spots, he said.
Some residents who live near the P-5000 road’s gate were pleased by the closure decision.
Janice Weimer lives across the street from the gate. She said she will not miss the dust and the noise.
“The dust was so bad,” Weimer said. “It lands all over our cars. … Every weekend, I just have to get out of here.”
Not everyone in the neighborhood complains. Some of her neighbors moved in because they ride motorcycles and wanted to live near the road, Weimer said.
Wallace said the Department of Natural Resources is working with Snohomish County to develop a site specifically for off-road vehicles. Right now, the closest site is Walker Valley east of Mount Vernon. DNR once considered closing that site, but eventually worked with off-road riders to improve it.
Wallace and Leibold both said they hoped a similar arrangement might work with a traditional off-road site near Gold Bar called Reiter Trails.
However, Leibold said he was concerned that required zoning changes at that site could get bogged down by bureaucracy. Still, he’s pleased it’s on the agenda.
Off-road vehicles “have been a very low priority in the county in the last 10 years,” Leibold said. “Finally, it is becoming somewhat of a priority.”
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@ heraldnet.com.
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