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Forest roads back in the spotlight
Proposed action plan ready for public input

Charlie Bassett speaks to the audience during a May 2007 town hall meeting. Bassett believes more time is needed to review the current proposed action plan.

Charlie Bassett speaks to the audience during a May 2007 town hall meeting. Bassett believes more time is needed to review the current proposed action plan.

Officials with the Kaibab National Forest released their proposed action plan last week in an ongoing effort to implement the nation's Travel Management Rule in the Williams area. The proposed plan, according to Forest Service representatives, will seek to close roughly 350 miles in the forest, while adding an additional 37 to the existing forest roads system. The proposed action plan, as well as accompanying maps, can be viewed in their entirety at the Kaibab National Forest Web site, located at www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai/travelmanagement.

Input on the proposed action plan stemmed from public work sessions held last year, as well as input from resource specialists for the Kaibab National Forest, such as comments made by Arizona Game and Fish officials and other groups. Comments were also submitted via online forms and other means, some of which were provided by the Citizens for Forest Roads Input (CFRI) - a local group formed to help individuals in the community understand and provide input on the Travel Management Rule in the Kaibab National Forest.

Public Information Officer Jackie Denk said the Forest Service would like to hear input from the community on the proposed action plan and offer their thoughts on roads in the forest that are proposed for closure.

"We want to make sure that people understand that this is a proposal. We wanted to get early public involvement in this process," Denk said. "We're still in the very early stages of travel management. This is a proposal that we need to get the public's comments on."

Denk stressed that the proposed action plan was not the end result of the forest roads issue, nor does the plan include permitted activities, such as firewood collection.

"Very specifically, travel management does not deal with any permitted activities and firewood collection is a permitted activity. People will be able to continue collecting firewood; they'll use the same process that they have before. They'll have to go in and get a permit," Denk said. "The likelihood is that we'll have to identify specific areas where firewood collection will be taking place."

Forest Service officials will hold a work session today from 2-4 p.m. A second work session will be held tonight from 6-8 p.m. The public is invited to the special meeting in order to provide their comments on the proposed action plan. Officials will hold a third work session April 24 from 5-7 p.m. The meetings will be held at the Williams Ranger District's Camp Clover office.

Denk added that there has been some support from the community in regards to limiting cross-country motorized travel.

"I think people realize that that can cause quite a bit of damage. I think a lot of local people are very concerned, though, that a bunch of forest roads will be closed and that's not the case," Denk said.

Based on the proposal, 150 miles of forest 'system' roads are proposed for closure from about 1,500 miles of roads. A separate 200 miles of user-created roads are also proposed for closure.

"Most of those aren't full roads. They're simply spurs or small segments of roads," Denk said.

Some roads were added to the proposed system as well, based on public input. Motorized trails were also added to the proposed action plan, creating a loop system. Denk said the motorized trail came from public input as well.

"We took the public input that we received and compared that with what our specialists are saying about damage occurring on the forest and we had to try and bring those together and come up with the best proposal possible," Denk said. "The local public told us that what they wanted to see was an actual chart. Any roads that we proposed for closure, they wanted to know what road it was, where it was located and the specific reason why we proposed it for closure. They didn't want to just hear 'resource concerns.'"

Comments on this phase of the proposed action are due May 9.

"What will happen then is we will take all of that input that we've received and we can either modify the proposal or we can develop alternatives to the proposal. Then people will again have an opportunity to provide input on that," Denk said.

"It's important for the public to know that we did listen to them," said Williams District Ranger Martie Schramm. "They may not see the exact road that they were talking about in this proposed action. There could have been resource concerns with it as to the reason why it didn't make it as a road to remain open or it could be that it's not even a Forest Service system road. If it's a user created road - those are the roads that we're focusing in on to determine if we actually want to add them to our system."

She added that Forest Service officials would be willing to meet personally with individuals who, for whatever reason, are unable to make the planned work sessions. Besides the work sessions, comments can also be made through the Web site, via electronic forms, or through mailings received from the Forest Service.

"We can't emphasize enough that it is a proposal. It's not the end. We're really interested in hearing what the public has to say about it and we hope that we get a good turn out at our work sessions," Schramm said.

CFRI member Charlie Bassett said many of the group's members agreed that some of the dead end roads should be closed under the new plan.

"I think our (the committee's) initial reaction to the proposed action was that closing only 350 miles of roads seemed pretty acceptable," Bassett said. "When you consider 1,300 miles of roads left open, at first glance it seems pretty favorable. However, the committee feels that the proposed action incorporates much too short of a window for comment. The scoping period says at least 30 days. Heck, the committee just received the (proposed action) April 3, with a comments deadline of May 9. It's just too short of a time for the citizens to digest, study, and make (an) intelligent, informed response. Everyone also needs to be aware that if you don't submit a comment or express interest, regardless of past input, then your name will be dropped off the mailing list."

Bassett urged individuals in the Williams area to become involved.

"I would suggest that all business owners take a good, hard look at this and determine for yourselves if there will be an economic impact on the success of your business," he said. "The (proposed action) does offer some exemptions to the rule. Apparently firewood cutting, outfitter and guide services, and big game retrieval will still have a place on our forest. With a permit. Everyone needs to read the 'Desired Condition' portion of the (proposed action). To me, they are vague and have very broad meanings, seems to contain many restrictions and conditions placed upon the citizen.

"As an example, one exemption that needs to be addressed is big game retrieval. It appears to be okay in September and part of October. What's wrong with November and December? According to the National Weather Service, there isn't much difference in the monthly precipitation between any of those months. Granted, you are more likely to get snow in November and December, but it's seldom, and not every year is the same. Last year, I hunted elk during the entire last week of November, not a wet road on the entire forest. Why not just use common sense? The Forest Service can always implement 'wet weather travel restrictions' when warranted."


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