Forest Service raising awareness on horse campsites

In the wake of a surge in popularity of outdoors vacationing across the nation, the U.S. Forest Service offices nationwide will be addressing the issue starting this summer of non-livestock users occupying campgrounds and campsites developed for people camping with horses, mules and other packing livestock.

After being approached by Back Country Horsemen of America and allied organizations, such as American Horse Council, USFS released a memo Nov. 15, 2021, outlining the need for action to raise awareness of the intended use of what USFS refers to collectively as horse campsites or horse campgrounds.

The problem with non-stock users camping in horse campsites, BCHA says in a post on its website, is that parties with livestock are not allowed to stay at USFS campsites not designated for equestrian use. As a result equestrians intending to stay with their horses and pack animals at a developed campground are either forced to drive further to find another horse campsite or they have to rough camp without access to corrals or possibly a water source.

Also at issue is the safety of non-horse-savvy people not understanding equine and livestock behavior or safe behavior and etiquette when around horses and livestock.

USFS in its memo also said that non-stock users who stay at horse campsites "commonly report a subpar experience due to their proximity to stock facilities and stock."

USFS manages 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands totaling 193 million acres of land that includes wilderness, waterways, coastline, marshlands, deserts and prairies. Horse campsites are developed campgrounds that include corrals and access to water for livestock.

Back Country Horsemen of America, through its members in affiliate groups nationwide, help with public trail maintenance and improvement, including these campsites, to help protect equestrian access to public lands.

"There is currently limited and inconsistent messaging to make visitors aware that most horse campgrounds are specifically designed and constructed to serve stock campers and not intended for use by non-stock users," the USFS memo says. "This messaging, usually limited to onsite signage or online on Forest Service and Recreation.gov websites, leaves non-stock user groups with little information on the importance of horse campgrounds to campers with stock."

The department is advocating increased signage and posters at campsites, with "clear and consistent messaging (to) help inform and direct people and set user/visitor expectations for the use of horse campgrounds and campsites on developed recreation facilities across the National Forest system."

Their internal recommendations for education and coordination efforts are to:

1. Raise awareness of this issue and share best practices with forest-level staff. Regional Developed Recreation Program Managers can facilitate this conversation with local district or forest units and help address any possible future problems within their areas.

2. Advise stock campers to work with their local district or forest on specific campground issues.

3. Consider shortening the booking window for how long in advance non-stock users can book campsites in areas with limited horse campgrounds.

USFS will also be working on ways to improve this message on their https://www.recreation.gov website, the memo said, including a list of best practices for the website:

1. Encourage local district or forest units to place horse campgrounds or a high percent of horse campsites onto the national reservation system under Recreation.gov. This will allow stock users to reserve horse sites in advance to reduce the risk factor of traveling long distance to a site only to find out that non-stock users got there first.

2. Recommend local district or forest units to include the following information in the "Need to Know" section on National Forest websites and Recreation.gov reservation pages to explain the intended use of horse sites.

3. Consider shortening the reservation window to provide local stock campers with greater opportunity to reserve campgrounds.

4. Consider including the option to input how many horses and the size of the horse trailer being brought as part of the reservation information at the reservation portal.

For onsite management, they are also recommending educating and training campground hosts and call-center staff and perhaps creating policy that specifically excludes non-stock users from staying at horse campsites during the summer months, such as has been done at Rock Creek Horse Camp in the Bitterroot National Forest, which has a fine of at least $5,000 for violations.

Back Country Horsemen said that, while they hope the proposed efforts help, the organization and its allies are prepared to take some form of legal action if members continue to have problems accessing horse campsites.

They have provided members with online forms to help them file complaints, saying "We don't know that education alone will prove sufficient to solve the horse camping problem. By collecting your accounts of incidents in the field, we might better document the magnitude and geographic extent of the problem."

But the organization also reminded members about their efforts to foster goodwill among all public lands users and provided tips:

• Always be courteous to other campground users. It's likely that any party without stock has occupied an equestrian campsite because regular campsites were already taken or reserved.

• Remember, it's not illegal for others to camp in an equestrian campsite. Plus, some folks might not know the difference between an equestrian and regular campsites - seriously - or why their occupancy of an equestrian campsite might force us to travel far distances in order to find a legal campsite - if not forced to return home, an outing ruined.

• If you end up speaking with such parties, use these talking points to educate them about the scarcity of legal campsites for equestrian use and what happens when parties without stock occupy equestrian campsites. 

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BCHA reporting forms are available online at:

https://form.jotform.com/220378164958062

https://files.constantcontact.com/e75b0703801/4f7d635d-4441-4373-a126-2a2be1368c64.pdf?rdr=true