Guest column: The Forest Service has locked us out of our forest

We are writing the news, Forest Service, and our state and federal senators and representatives concerning the changes the Forest Service has made that affect many of us. We encourage anyone with any concerns to do likewise as that may be the only way we can see our forests become truly accessible again.

We have been both saddened, and angry over the changes made by the Forest Service on the Kaibab. We feel we have been shut out of our forests. Woodcutting is a huge concern to us as well as many northern Arizona residents. Woodcutting isnʼt easy, especially gathering oak. If all the people that need firewood could basically drive as short of a distance as 30 feet off road, leave their truck and cut all the wood they would need to fill it, and easily be able to get it loaded within reasonable walking distance, we would have been doing it all these years!

The decision to not allow off-road travel anywhere, especially for firewood cutting was made with absolutely no regard for the people that need and depend upon it. This decision lacks any common sense. For our parents, and other elderly, they are not going to be able to get firewood at all. As for many of us up here in northern Arizona, this is our only heat source. There is no way that we will be able to get the oak in that we want to keep our home warm in the mid-winter.

The average woodcutter isnʼt the problem with rutting in the woods. We donʼt go out when it is wet, we travel very slowly, park and locate our wood. On a good day, it is still a workout. What about all the wood we spotted last year and now have no way to get to it? It is totally inaccessible! The only thing that will happen to it is to rot, burn in a fire, or best yet be burned in a prescribed burn. We the lowly woodcutters provide a service in a small way when we do remove dead wood, there is plenty out there and we need to be able to harvest it.

In the big picture, even with off-road travel to find and harvest wood, still most of the woods are inaccessible due to steep slopes, rocks, ravines etc. The woods are huge, and most never see a vehicle. The woods are a living, breathing and constantly growing entity that forgives and heals. My husband and his family were involved in the logging business many years ago in the Williams area. Not wanting to, but having to get the logs out, huge ruts were made as logging was done rain or shine. Those ruts are non-existent now, not taking 100 years as told to all at a meeting. We, the woodcutters are not out in the woods with heavy equipment or out in bad weather unless caught in a freak storm. Many of us usually go out when monsoons are over and the weather cools in the fall.

I have run into many people that have no idea what has happened and are extremely worried as to how this is going to affect them. The only area that wood can be accessed off road is down by Ash Fork or way up north on Highway 180. Gas is too expensive to do all that driving. Why is it ok to drive off-road in the pinyon-junipers and not the tall pine forests? For most of us, our old wood trucks donʼt see the interstate and it wouldnʼt be safe to try to get a loaded truck up Ash Fork Hill.

This didnʼt need to happen. There were already provisions in place for driving off road in muddy conditions. If this was due to four-wheelers and other vehicles messing up the woods, then that should have been dealt with directly, not shutting everything down for everyone. We are aware that there are campers and others out there in our woods with little regard for the woods, trash their camps, ruin the area around them with their misuse of their four-wheelers, and in general hurt us all. We all shouldnʼt suffer because of the irresponsibility of others. As to camping, we have always enjoyed camping all around Williams. Camping within 30 feet of a road isnʼt camping to us. We donʼt enjoy camping with people running up and down a road, creating dust to breathe.

These are our forests to enjoy, harvest wood, hunt, fish and hike in. Our forests as in belonging to the people. Shutting us out is un-American. We feel that this was a done deal even at the meeting we went to. Many asked about woodcutting and game retrieval, and we couldnʼt get any answers. Now we probably know why. People would have been furious from the start we might have had a chance to turn this around before it came to this.

Even if a person isnʼt directly affected by these closures and restrictions, as Americans we all should be very concerned. Is it right that a government agency has this much power? Honestly how can something like this happen? We didnʼt get to vote on it, our input and concerns at the meetings over these two main topics didnʼt do any good, we didnʼt see anyone happy at the time about the proposed changes and lack of information we requested.

Who really thought this up? Iʼd love to invite those involved to get about five loads of wood, walking and wheelbarrowing it all out, go hunting and get their deer packed out and to a processor ASAP on a warm fall day. I wonder if the decision makers in this matter have a clue as to how important our freedoms are as western Americans. As Americans we should be very upset that we all lost liberties when all this happened.

This action was not "of the people, by the people or for the people," by any stretch of the imagination. If something like this can happen even when the main voice was against it, what is next? This is government at its worst. Again, we should all be concerned.