brimstone resident

[4wheelingfool]

Do brimstone residents have to pay for permits to ride and hunt? We already pay when we pay our land taxes.

[STAKK]

If you hunt on your own land NO of course you don't pay....if you ride or travel on your property No you don't pay.... you only buy a permit or lease if you plan on riding or hunting on the Brimstone recreation property....

[4wheelingfool]

The residents of Brimstone made several of the trails you have marked. Whats in it for us who live here by adding "Brimstone Recreation"? Increased traffic and people we dont know going by our house. We do raise our families here you know. Nobody came to our houses and asked us whay we want, there has been no mailings to the residents or nothing. Were not that hard to find, just look at the houses you drive by when youre tagging "YOUR" trails that "YOU" made.

[wade]

I grew up in Scott Co and have some of the same feelings about the Big South Fork Park. But a reality check is that if you do not own the land you do not control the land. When the Brimestone property was bought by a company in some other state, we were going to loose access to it. The out state company had no ties to the locals and only had risk through being sued by someone who wrecked their ATV while tresspassing. So eventually the property would be lost to us forever.

I just gladly paid $ 190 for me and my family to use the land for one year. We are no longer local but love riding the area. Paying $ 190/ per year is a lot better than being locked out. Plus I never was able to enjoy the land often while growing up because I always had to find someone to be a guide. The new maps, marked trails, and MAINTAINED trails is a convience that I am willing to pay for.

Thank you to Mark and others that has kept us access to this property.

By the way, it is probably me that has driven by your house and I am sorry if I disturbed you. I try to make sure that I am always on the trails and on Brimestone Recreation property. From what i understand as long as I am on the marked trails I am on Brimestone property, I hope that this is the case.

[STAKK]

Thanks for your support Wade........ All of us here at Brimstone recreation appreciate it........ we are trying everything we can to make this thing work and keep the area open for people to enjoy, there are costs involved as you know, if people knew the upfront expenses that was needed to pull this off, maybe they would be more understanding, but alot of folks just don't seem to understand that the property they have used free for years no longer belongs to local owners, and as sad as it is, the "Free Ride" is over, many folks still think it is like it always was when the Baker/Swain group owned it, but it isn't now...... Bottom line is, without Brimstone Recreation being formed, the only ones allowed on the property would be Fountain forestry and the loggers and gas weller's, the rest of us would be tresspassing and not welcome........ I hope that everyone can end up understanding this situation for what it is, and support the area instead of complaining, without the public support riding/camping/hunting and just enjoying the Brimstone property will be lost....... I gladly bought my permit and will continue to do so every year to keep this land open to the public.............Stakk

[4wheelingfool]

When you wrote that you have the land leased from this new company, I have a lifetime lease on land joining mine from baker and swain. What happens there?

[STAKK]

If I were you I'd talk to Bert Walker then, because your agreement was with Baker/Swain not GMO,  Baker/Swain doesn't own the property anymore and GMO does, so I'm afraid the agreement you had with Baker/Swain was only good as long as they owned the property, any agreements with Baker/Swain don't apply with GMO.......

[Garrett]

4wheeling fool, you asked: "What's in it for us?"

I think there's a LOT in it for Brimstone residents and all Scott Countians. For $10, you can spend 12 months riding until your heart's content on a multitude of trails, and you can camp, fish, etc. That's the best bargain you'll find anywhere around, in my opinion.

After listening to the gripes of several people in the community over the past few months, it seems apparent to me that Mr. Swain and Mr. Baker spoiled us here in Scott County. They always allowed residents free access to the property. Even when people went around throwing down their beer cans and snack wrappers, and cutting those unauthorized trails that you speak of, they allowed us free access to the property. We should be very grateful to them for the years we did have free access to Brimstone. And we should also realize what a unique situation we had. Little is free any more. Land companies have a lot of expense tied up in properties like Brimstone. It's only fair that they be able to regain some of those expenses. As more and more people lease large tracts of property for hunting, land parcels like Brimstone become pretty lucrative. As ATV riders begin to form clubs and shell out mega-bucks to lease areas to ride, those properties become even more lucrative.

The days of being able to use someone else's property for free ended a long time ago. As with most other things, we were far behind the times in Scott County, but STAKK is exactly right: this land was about to be lost to all of us. Even if Brimstone Land Company still owned the land, it might have been lost; they started discussing the possibility of leasing the land way back in the late '90s. But when the land was sold to GMO, it became certain that it would be lost. I hear people argue every day that "no, GMO would've left the land open to all of us." HA! Think again! Look around at what is happening with large tracts of property. Seven years ago, TWRA had around 600,000 acres of land in its Public Hunting Program. Today, they have around 50,000 or so acres. They were paying landowners for use of that property, but even at that, landowners could lease the land privately and make more than what TWRA was willing to pay. Look at what happened with Bowater. Bowater was getting $3/acre/year from TWRA. They decided they could lease privately for $4/acre. TWRA couldn't afford the price increase, so they parted ways with Bowater. I remember people in Scott County saying "nobody in their right mind will lease that property." Well, guess what? It wasn't six months before those little orange posted signs started popping up along Hwy. 52 and Hwy. 27 in the south end of the county. Even when the pine beetle killed every pine tree on the property, people were still leasing it for $4/acre. Believe me, lease property is in high demand in Tennessee and in the Southeast, not to mention most of the country. If something hadn't happened, those posted signs would be up all around Brimstone right now. And, guess what: Whoever had leased it wouldn't be sending out mailings or stopping to see you, either. The difference would be that they wouldn't give you an opportunity to enjoy the land.

Instead of criticizing Brimstone Recreation, you should thank them. As it stands, we can pay a very small fee and enjoy the property we've enjoyed for years. If these guys hadn't taken action, we wouldn't have that opportunity. If they can make a profit in the process, I say more power to them.

Sorry to rant.

[4wheelingfool]

I can tell from your postings that you don't live in Brimstone. Yeah I geuss you do like having a place to go and ride and do whatever you want to when you want too. I've lived my whole life here. My parents, aunts, uncle's and all kin live here and we aint putting up with no nonsense. For every one of you that has some respect for the residents who live on Brimstone, there is 5 that don't.  I'm talking about atv's with the pipe cut off and you can hear them coming a mile away, or the drunks you mentioned coming here and throwing out their beer cans, not to mention the noise when youre trying to have church. oh I don't want to forget those new friendly travelers on our road who hollers at my wife and daughter when they are in OUR yard or trying to walk for exercize on the road. Think of the whole picture before you run off at the mouth.

[shooter]

hey man, what would jesus do.  It is really stupid how people in this area push the fact that they all go to baptist churches and all that christian stuff but there is more to church then just going there.  You have to live the life.  That really sucks that people are hollaring at your wife and daughter but maybe it's an opportunity to show them Gods love.  Anyways in my bible it talks about turning the other cheek.  Just something to think about

[boog]

Anybody got a topo map of the property they can post or send me a link showing the boundaries ? What about it creek walker?  

[Garrett]

I can tell from your postings that you don't live in Brimstone. Yeah I geuss you do like having a place to go and ride and do whatever you want to when you want too. I've lived my whole life here. My parents, aunts, uncle's and all kin live here and we aint putting up with no nonsense. For every one of you that has some respect for the residents who live on Brimstone, there is 5 that don't.  I'm talking about atv's with the pipe cut off and you can hear them coming a mile away, or the drunks you mentioned coming here and throwing out their beer cans, not to mention the noise when youre trying to have church. oh I don't want to forget those new friendly travelers on our road who hollers at my wife and daughter when they are in OUR yard or trying to walk for exercize on the road. Think of the whole picture before you run off at the mouth.

And I can tell from your postings that you don't know me or where my family lives. :wink:

Listen, I know where you're coming from just as much as I see where the folks at Brimstone Recreation are coming from. I live near the entrance to the Big South Fork and I dread the day when the park grows to the sizes that everyone predicts it will.

But let's be honest: The main increase that you're going to see on the trails of Brimstone are out-of-county residents. Most Scott County residents who want to ride those trails have always ridden those trails. Those things you speak of -- hootin and hollerin at your wife, throwing out beer cans and riding with cut-off pipes -- those things are mostly going to be done by local riders. People who are going to spend money to go somewhere and ride are usually much more respectful than those who are riding in their own backyard (ironically enough). So, in other words, nobody isn't going to be doing these things that weren't already doing these things. Besides, I think you're vastly overstating the problem. I've spent a good portion of my life on Brimstone and I have seen few confrontations between residents and people riding or hunting those hills.

boog, there ain't no need for name-calling.  :mrgreen:

[wade]

I hate it for the residents of Brimestone that enjoyed the land for free all those years. Change is difficult.

On a different note, I grew up in Scott county, lived there until I was 18. I can not tell you how many times I had to deal with the drunken redneck who left trash and beer cans everywhere. And yes they were local. So your statement that only the drunks that leave trash and yell at your daughter are out of towners, I disagree. Truth be know they are probably the same locals that have been doing this since I grew up there.  The first time i went riding this year we were on a marked trail and ran into some campers that yelled at us and gave us the "finger".

I love Scott County and the people of Scott County but there is good and bad in all of Tennessee. To lump all out of towners into this drunken redneck category is not fair.

[4wheelingfool]

I never said they were from out of town. There is a lot more traffic up here now from people who live in Scott County AND from out of town.

[wade]

I am sorry, I missunderstood.