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Forest Service could add more camping areas on South Kaibab

Kaibab National Forest managers could add more camping areas to the Tusayan and Williams Ranger Districts in response to public feedback. Ryan Williamsl/WGCN

Kaibab National Forest managers could add more camping areas to the Tusayan and Williams Ranger Districts in response to public feedback. Ryan Williamsl/WGCN

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - "More camp sites" is what Kaibab National Forest managers are hearing from forest users.

Managers have responded by releasing a draft plan to create new camping corridors along with other improvements in the draft South Zone Travel Management Revision Project Jan. 22.

The project, which is designed to improve travel management on the Tusayan and Williams Ranger Districts of the Kaibab, is in response to public and internal feedback and is proposing to designate approximately 291 miles of camping corridors, add 14 spur roads, close nine miles of currently open roads and add 24 miles of roads to the districts' open road system.

The draft plan also establishes an adaptive management strategy for making limited changes to the transportation system in the future without having to go through an entire National Environmental Policy Act.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, most forest users use motor vehicles to access the forest for recreational purposes such as sightseeing, camping, hiking, hunting and fishing, and commercial purposes such as logging, mining, and grazing. Many people come to the forest with pickup trucks, ATVs, and motorcycles. The current regulations were developed when OHVs were less widely available, less powerful, and less capable of cross-country travel than today's models. The growing popularity and capabilities of OHVs demand new regulations so the Forest Service can continue to provide these opportunities while sustaining the health of NFS lands and resources.

Until 2005, open travel across U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands was virtually unrestricted. In 2005 the Department of Agriculture created the Travel Management Rule which restricted motor vehicle use to designated roads and trails on U.S. Forest Service lands, and prohibited the use of motor vehicles off the designated system.

"A lot of people didn't realize that in the past you could take your vehicle or ATV and drive off-road," said Kaibab Public Information Officer Jackie Banks. "We were seeing damage in the forest where people would head straight off and drive for miles off road. Then other people would follow those tracks and all of a sudden we had user created unauthorized roads across the forest. You could go anywhere you wanted to go in most cases."

In response to the Travel Management Ruling in 2005, the Kaibab spent several years developing a travel management plan for the Tusayan and Williams ranger districts. In 2010 they released their first plan for motorized travel on the Kaibab.

"The idea behind the rule was for each forest to look at what was currently allowed and then make actual decisions about where we do want them to travel," Banks said. "We looked at where we can provide the most access but also preserve natural and cultural resources. That was very challenging."

Managers created the rule to ensure that the use of off-road vehicles on public lands would be controlled and directed to protect the resources of the lands, promote safety of all users, and minimize conflicts among the various users.

"We have a lot of roads, especially on the Williams and Tusayan ranger districts," Banks said. "So we also have duplicate roads, extra roads and roads up drainages that go to the same place. Travel management had us look at what was sustainable."

According to Banks, the original Kaibab travel management plan was released under the idea that revisions would occur in the future.

"We promised at the time that it wasn't set in stone," Banks said. "This is something we are going to look at over time and make improvements as we need."

According to Kaibab NEPA Coordinator Marcos Roybal, managers at the Kaibab collected input from forest users, partners such as the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) and Coconino County Sheriff's Office, and internal staff about problems and concerns with the original travel management plan.

"What we implemented wasn't working so we needed to take a look at that," Roybal said.

Roybal said they heard hundreds to thousands of comments about camping limitations. The original plan only allowed vehicles to park up to 30 feet off certain roads. He said many people complained about the dust, noise and safety of family members on the heavily used forest roads.

"That's really what we tailored this new project to address," Roybal said. "The loudest thing we heard from our partners, the public and internally is that we need to address this camping issue."

Banks said the proposed plan will designate camping corridors that will extend 300 feet from either side of the centerline of the road.

"The road to Dogtown Lake has been packed," Banks said. "The primary concern was no place to camp and nowhere to go to disperse. In the end people felt there just weren't enough places to pull off and motorize camp."

Nationally, the Forest Service manages approximately 300,000 miles of roads open to motor vehicle use and about 133,000 trails. The Kaibab encompasses 1.6 million acres with thousands of miles of road.

Banks said it was difficult to inventory the roads and come up with a camping plan for such a large amount of acreage.

"We're looking at those things that may have made sense when you were in the office, but on the ground they don't make sense," Banks said.

Banks said the Kaibab is also trying to be more consistent with the regulations on Coconino and Prescott National Forests.

"We came out with our plan earlier which restricted campers to 30 feet from the roadway," Banks said. "And then Coconino and Prescott came out with their plans which were 300 feet from the road. We heard from the Game and Fish and the Sheriff's Office saying this was difficult to enforce with the inconsistencies."

Roybal said the Kaibab is planning to make color forest user maps with topographical features, recreation points of interests, and trails on it.

"We're in the process of that and it will also be geo referenced so people can download it on their smartphone or tablet," Roybal said. "It will actually show you in real time where you are on the ground and if you are in a camping corridor."

Changes to the transportation and camping system included in the draft decision were developed based on several years of monitoring following implementation of the Travel Management Rule on the two districts, which included documenting public concerns about recreational access and other issues.

"I believe our local community members and our visitors will be pleased with these changes and will recognize that they are responsive to the concerns we've been hearing over recent years," said Williams District Ranger Danelle Harrison.

A final decision on the South Zone Travel Management Revision Project is expected in the spring with a new Motor Vehicle Use Map anticipated thereafter. The current regulations regarding camping are still in place until the draft plan is finalized. Current Motor Vehicle Use Maps for the Kaibab are available at the Clover Ranger Station in Williams or at Kaibab National Forest..


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