If you do much camping with your horse, you’ve undoubtedly encountered people without horses camped in horse sites. Our former VP of Field Services, Rhonda Marquis, has been leading a crusade to get the Forest Service to limit horse camps to campers with stock. As she discovered when she conducted a survey recently, this is an ongoing problem at horse camps all over the country. The issue, of course, is that while horse campers are prohibited from camping in “people” campgrounds, there is no rule against people without horses staying in horse camps.
Rhonda worked hard to bring this issue to the attention of Back Country Horsemen of America, a national organization whose goals align with OET’s. BCHA enlisted the support of other organizations, including the American Horse Council, and took the issue to the Forest Service at the national level. Progress is being made! Now, BCHA needs your help to continue documenting the situation – see below for details.
What the Forest Service is Doing
While it has no formal rules restricting horse camp use to campers with stock, the Forest Service recently circulated a memo to all its offices called “Recommended Best Practices for Managing Stock Use Sites at Developed Campgrounds“.
In it, the Forest Service describes the problem and recommends that local offices post campground signage and ensure that the recreation.gov reservation website includes wording that restricts horse camp reservations to those with stock. It’s definitely a move in the right direction!
How You Can Help
As you’re camping this summer, if you see non-horse campers in horse sites, BCHA asks that you document the incident so they can use the information to support the development of a formal rule allowing only those with stock to camp in horse camps. They’re asking you to fill out this form.
Send it in (the address is at the bottom of the form) with photos if possible, or use the online version of the form. As always, though, be courteous to the non-horse campers. If you talk to them, you could explain that their occupancy of a horse campsite could force an equestrian to return home, trip ruined, because we have so few legal campsites available. (This point is not persuasive if the horse camp isn’t full, of course.) Also, they may not have realized the difference between a horse site and a non-horse site. So please, keep it pleasant and polite.
We all owe Rhonda Marquis (send email to survey@oregonequestriantrails.org) a huge THANK YOU for championing this issue and continuing to advocate for equestrian campers.
For more information see the full BCHA article, BCHA Encourages Chapters to Review USFS Memo “Best Practices for Managing Stock Use Sites at Developed Campgrounds” & Discuss with Local USFS Staff
Reference – Results: Non-equestrians Occupying Horse Camping Sites Survey
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