New Mexico Off-Highway Access Issues

[2manycruisers]

-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence M Lujan [mailto:lmlujan@fs.fed.us]On Behalf Of Santa Fe
Travel Management Planning
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 4:50 PM

Dear Friends and Neighbors:
The Santa Fe National Forest (Forest) announces the release of its
Proposed Action for Managing Motorized Travel. This proposal, or
“scoping phase,� is the start of the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) process for this project.

The attached PDF document contains a copy of the Notice of Intent that
will be published in the Federal Register on or shortly after July 11,
2008. Check the Forest Web site for exact date of publication. The
Notice of Intent summarizes the proposed action, which proposes a system
of roads, trails, and areas for motorized vehicle use by vehicle class
and time of year.

Highlights of the proposal are:

Continuing to provide motorized access to the Forest;
Prohibiting cross-country motorized vehicle use off designated roads,
trails, and areas;
Reducing the miles of roads open to motorized travel;
Increasing the miles of trails designated for motorized vehicles;
Designating motorized access to dispersed camping;
Limiting the use of motor vehicles to retrieve downed game to
designated routes only; and
Amending the Santa Fe National Forest Plan to comply with direction
in the Rule.

How to Get Information

The proposed action and maps may be downloaded from the Forest’s Web
site at Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service. The
supervisor’s office or any of the five ranger stations, upon request,
will distribute a limited number of CDs that contain the same
information. The supervisor’s office and the ranger stations will have
maps available for review in their offices. The contact information for
each ranger station is provided in the NOI.

If you have questions about the NEPA process or making comments, please
contact the Travel Management Project Leader, Julie Bain, at (505)
438-7829 or sftravelmgt@fs.fed.us. If you have a technical question,
contact one of the district rangers, or Diane Taliaferro, Forest
Recreation Program Manager, at (505) 438-7823.

Attend a Public Meeting

Participating in public meetings and discussions and reviewing the
proposed action and maps is an important way for you to help us
understand your point of view.

The Forest will hold public scoping meetings to review and discuss the
proposed action, take comments, and understand community issues and
concerns. The public meeting schedule is listed in the enclosed NOI and
will be posted on our website at
Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service. The meetings set aside
time to informally meet with Forest staff, review maps, view a
presentation on the proposed action, and ask questions.

How Public Input is Used

Forest staff will use your comments to help identify significant issues
and develop alternatives to the proposed action. The environmental
effects of the proposed action and the alternatives will be analyzed in
a draft environmental impact statement.

How to Comment

The Forest invites you to comment on its Proposed Action for Managing
Motorized Travel. The Forest recognizes that other configurations of
roads, trails, and areas may better meet the needs of the surrounding
communities’ diverse recreational interests, traditional or cultural
uses, and other needs for access. Therefore, the Forest is soliciting
issues and concerns of people interested in this proposal.

The Forest encourages electronic mail. If sending an e-mail, please
send it to comments-southwestern-santafe@fs.fed.us (attachments as .doc,
.txt, .pdf, or .rtf only) with “Travel Management� in the subject line.
For your convenience, a comment form is available on the Web site at
Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service.

Please mail your written comments on this proposal to Santa Fe Travel
Management Planning, 1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505. If you would
like confirmation that we have received your letter, please include your
e-mail address with your written comment. The fax number is (505)
438-7834. Comments may be delivered by hand to the Santa Fe National
Forest Supervisor’s Office (1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe) between the hours
of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. To make verbal comments, please arrange by
calling one of the district rangers (refer to NOI for phone numbers) or
Julie Bain.

In compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, please be aware that
the written comments received on this proposal, including names and
addresses, will be considered part of the public record and will be
available for public inspection.

Comments will be most helpful when they are focused on specific roads
and trails, and within the scope of the proposed action, and include
supporting reasons for the responsible official to consider.

How You Can Remain Informed

Those who comment will automatically continue to receive information
regarding this project. If you do not wish to comment on the proposed
action, but would like to continue to receive information on travel
management planning, please send your name and mailing address to: Santa
Fe Travel Management Planning, 1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505, or
call (505) 438-7829 or email to sftravelmgt@fs.fed.us. If you do not
request to be kept on the mailing list or if you choose not to comment
on the proposed action, your name will be removed from our list.

We want to keep you informed of how we use your feedback and how we are
progressing with the travel management project. We plan to keep the
Forest web page up-to-date with new information.

We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you at a meeting.

Sincerely,

/s/Daniel J. Jiron

DANIEL J. JIRON
Forest Supervisor

[2manycruisers]

and an email I got from Sandia Jeep Club:

>>Good morning all,
>>
>>The Santa Fe National Forest has updated their website
>>yesterday. It now includes the Travel Analysis Process (TAP)
>>report and some new maps. We have been waiting for this report
>>because is one of the foundation documents (and precursors for the
>>release of the) 'Proposed Action' that will formally start the NEPA
process.
>>
>>"What the heck does that mean?"
>>
>>The TAP is a document that lays the foundation for the analysis of
>>the roads system on the Santa Fe National Forest. The document is
>>relatively short (at 38 pages) and I encourage you to read it. The
>>matrix in the appendix is where all the details reside. It
>>contains a line item for each road segment on the SFNF, all 7158.26
>>miles. Each of those line items includes other descriptive
>>information including the recommendation as to whether the segment
>>is proposed to be designated as 'open' or 'closed' and the reasons.
>>
>>They have also released three sets of maps: 1) The existing
>>condition maps (what they think is currently out there). 2) The
>>existing direction maps (what they think is SUPPOSED to be out
>>there. 3) A Minimum Road System map. The third set of maps is the
>>one to look at as it appears to be their baseline of what they
>>consider the minimum road system it would take to support the
>>Forest. Many, but not nearly all, of the NM4W Citizen's Proposal
>>Routes are on the minimum road system map. Some VERY important
>>ones are missing on the Minimum Road System map. They are in the
>>matrix in the appendix of the TAP. If you are ambitious, you can
>>start listing the closed segments that we want open and why each of
>>them is proposed to be closed.
>>
>>I haven't had time to study the TAP or the maps in detail yet but a
>>couple of quick observations:
>>
>>1) The minimum road system matches what the Jemez District
>>was telling us already last summer before the TAP was completed
>>(and the 'A' in TAP is supposed to stand for 'Analysis').
>>2) That being said, the maps depict a minimum 'ROAD' system
>>and not necessarily the full road AND TRAIL system.
>>3) In other words, we now have a minimum list to work from
>>and we can concentrate our efforts on those roads and trails that
>>are not included.
>>4) The devil is in the details. We need to grind through
>>the line items in the appendix and be ready to contradict (with
>>science and data) their conclusions on which roads need to be closed.
>>
>>I expect the 'Proposed Action' to come out in the VERY NEAR
>>FUTURE. This will start the official NEPA process and signal the
>>start of the official Scoping period. We all need to send in our
>>comments (again) during the scoping period so that they are part of
>>the official NEPA record. This is VERY important if we end up
>>having to appeal the decisions further down the road. I will be
>>sending more updates and analysis to the club as I have time to
>>read the TAP in more detail and when the Proposed Action is finally
released.
>>
>>"What the heck should I be doing?"
>>
>>Read the TAP document. Study the minimum road system maps. Figure
>>out what is already shown as proposed for 'open', 'closed', or
>>'seasonal'. Make a list. Get ready to write your scoping comments
>>in the very near future.
>>

[Beowulf]

Thanks David!

-Mike-

[SteveLCetc]

Notice this paragraph:

"Those who comment will automatically continue to receive information regarding this project. If you do not wish to comment on the proposed action, but would like to continue to receive information on travel
management planning, please send your name and mailing address to: Santa Fe Travel Management Planning, 1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505, or call (505) 438-7829 or email to sftravelmgt@fs.fed.us. If you do not request to be kept on the mailing list or if you choose not to comment on the proposed action, your name will be removed from our list. "

[SteveLCetc]

Here is the meeting schedule:
Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service

[jemezcrusher]

Gave input at several meetings over the past year or so. There are over 8000 miles of roads and trails in the Santa Fe. Plan is to reduce that to about 3000.

They took no action on the input we put in for off road trails ( over 600 miles of trail) in the area where we have been riding for twenty years (North of 126 between La Cueva and Fenton and further north)

Guess I will have to change my handle to outlaw as I have no intent to stop riding in them woods.

[2manycruisers]

I hate to say it, but that is why I haven't been very involved. I think the FS does this often--they pretty much decide what they want to do, but they have to go through the motions of NEPA. I'm hopeful that those on the forest involved in TM will give more than lip service to comments and input from wheelers, but I have my doubts as well.

I think people are going to continue to use the closed roads for years to come, and I don't fault anyone for it.

Originally Posted by jemezcrusher

Gave input at several meetings over the past year or so. There are over 8000 miles of roads and trails in the Santa Fe. Plan is to reduce that to about 3000.

They took no action on the input we put in for off road trails ( over 600 miles of trail) in the area where we have been riding for twenty years (North of 126 between La Cueva and Fenton and further north)

Guess I will have to change my handle to outlaw as I have no intent to stop riding in them woods.

[SteveLCetc]

New email today:

Dear Friends and Neighbors, In our initial Scoping letter you received last week, we mentioned the45-day comment period begins when the Notice of Intent is published in theFederal Register. It was published today, July 17th. The 45-day periodwill be from July 18th through September 2, 2008. What?? That would makeit 47 days....? We took into consideration that the end of the 45 dayswould actually be August 31st (if you did the math) but since that is aSunday and the next day is a Holiday (Labor Day), we used September 2nd.We'll take your comments on the 46th or the 50th day too, we just want toencourage your participation at this point in the NEPA process.Information is on our website:Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service Thanks for your interest in the Santa Fe National Forest. 45-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD BEGINS (SANTA FE, NM)— The Santa Fe National Forest Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement statement to manage motorized travel was published in the Federal Register today, July 17, 2008. “This initiates the 45-day public comment period that will run July 18 through September 2, 2008,” said Daniel Jiron Forest Supervisor. The publishing of the NOI officially initiates “scoping”, the first step in the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process. These 45 days are for the public to provide information, to the agency, on resource issues and to identify significant issues with the proposed action. The agency will next develop alternative proposals, based on public input received. These alternatives will undergo full analysis of the environmental effects and a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) will be prepared(usually about 8 to 12 months). At this time, the public will have another 45-day “notice and comment” period. Based on the analysis and public input, the agency will make a decision which will be published as a record of decision. The Forest plans to have the record of decision completed in 2009. The Notice of Intent and Santa Fe National Forest’s Proposed Action for Managing Motorized Travel can be found on the Forest website: Travel Management Planning, Santa Fe National Forest - USDA Forest Service . ###

[sirenmoses]

Originally Posted by 2manycruisers

... the FS does this often--they pretty much decide what they want to do, but they have to go through the motions of NEPA. I'm hopeful that those on the forest involved in TM will give more than lip service to comments and input from wheelers, but I have my doubts as well.

I think people are going to continue to use the closed roads for years to come, and I don't fault anyone for it.

x2.

Ironically, they dropped a 20' ponderosa pine east of Oak Flat (Sandia Ranger District) to close off a 2 track we were using to park off the road & train SAR K9's, right about where it'll become 4wd access, according to the accepted plan. You gotta close something before you can open it??

I am SO tempted to buck it up/pull it outta the way & re-open the 2 track....

[jemezcrusher]

Hmmmm

Buck it up and take it with you. Firewood would come in handy

[jemezcrusher]

Went to the Jemez Springs meeting week before last, and the one in Cuba last Thursday. Same song, same verse, different venue

The key is comment. Going to the meetings is good, but they don't take notes of verbal comments. I think these are just an opportunity to vent. They seem to be most concerned about following their process, not whether or not people take issue. If they follow the correct process, their plan will go through. My earlier post was incorrect about the amount of miles being reducde. Going from 5000 to 2300. The big difference is that now, there is no restriction on cross country travel, and in the future there will be none (except for 50 acres - whoopie!) You will be allowed to go 75 feet off of a established road or trail for "dispersed camping", but that is it. This is a huge change from current management.

Could be helpful to go to the meetings (19th in Rio Rancho, and 20th in ALBQ) but the written comments will count the most. If you choose to comment, be sure to be specific about what road or trail is near and dear to you. GPS locations would help if you got em.

DOn't know if they will change anything on their plan to manage by closure, but if there are enough comments, they may have to defend their decision to keep us off OUR LAND!

[pappy]

Does this mean anything?

Wyoming court strikes roadless rule, blasts forest service

[2manycruisers]

two different animals. roadless ruie has more effect on management activities in inventoried roadless areas (logging, mining, road-building, etc)

Originally Posted by pappy

Does this mean anything?

Wyoming court strikes roadless rule, blasts forest service

[SteveLCetc]

This is the thread referred to at the meeting, talking about the "forest management plan".

[SteveLCetc]

P.S. More info here:
NMOHVA

[2manycruisers]

Scoping ended on 9/2, BUT the Forest is continuing to accept comments.

The districts have hard copy maps to view, downloadable maps are on the SFNF website. I encourage all of you to look at the maps for your favorite trails and camping areas and send comments supporting access to these places.

[pappy]

Should I keep it sticky?

[SteveLCetc]

I think it's important, so I would say yes.

[jemezcrusher]

THere have been a lot of folks sending in "Take no action" as a comment.

If you have not done so, would at least do that

[Beowulf]

We discussed this "take no action" option with David at the last meeting. This is not an option for the USFS districts. Each director was mandated by law to come up with a plan to manage the roads.

David can comment on this but my take away was that sending that in as a comment would be like saying nothing at all.

-Mike-

[SteveLCetc]

This is not exactly SF National Forest news, but is along the same line.

The New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department released its report in response to last year's Senate Joint Memorial 40.

NMOHVA

It doesn't take much to see this is a serious trend that will restrict our abilities to get out into the natural world. We need actively support the NMOHVA.

[BionicCruiser]

i started a thread having to do with that here. http://forum.ih8mud.com/nm-high-dese...-alliance.html

i will send up dates on what i get from them as well.

[SteveLCetc]

Maybe we should combine the threads on one sticky. We're getting a lot of stickies...

[SteveLCetc]

From Mark Werkmeister:

Hello all,

The Cibola National Forest is kicking off the Travel Management Planning in the Mountainair Ranger District with three community meetings (Mountainair, Corona, Belen) in the next couple of weeks. The detailed Forest Service announcement is included below. It is important to participate in these meetings if we care about the future of OHV recreation in the District. A couple of important things to remember:

1) These are pre-NEPA meetings. What does this mean? It is kind of like meeting at the bar after work. You might discuss ‘work’, but no one will take minutes, and nothing official happens. It is important to participate (in good faith) but remember that “nothin’ mean nothin’” until the NEPA process starts with the request for Scoping comments. All of input will need to be replicated during the scoping period.

2) We will need to examine the ‘existing condition’ maps and ensure that the Forest Service accurately reflects the current reality of what is on the ground. If we know of trails/roads that exist that they do not have on their maps, we will identify the shortcomings in the FS maps.

3) This is just the start of the process, no, actually, it is kind of before the real start. The Forest Service is looking for information and we should help them. We should be very hesitant to identify ‘our most important’ trails. We want the Forest Service to follow the rules and analyze ALL of the existing trails/roads on the ground, whether they are on their system maps or not. They NEED to hear that request over and over and over until they get. We want ALL the roads/trails included in the Travel Planning analysis process as NEPA and the Travel Management Rule require.

4) One more thing…HELP GET THE WORD OUT. Travel Management affects far more than just OHV users. It will further restrict hunters, the gathering of forest products, etc…..almost everything people choose to do in the forest.

Thanks.

Mark

[SteveLCetc]

Legislative Update #3 - How to Stop Bad OHV Legislation Before It Starts

[2manycruisers]

latest on Santa Fe travel management:

1300 letters received, resulted in approximately 4000 individual comments, narrowed to about 360 public concern statements. Id'ed 10 key issues from this, 6 of them "significant".
Now beginning to develop alternatives in response to the significant issues.

[SteveLCetc]

I just received this:

Legislative Update #5 - Call Senators to Kill SB379

or:

TinyURL.com/NMOHVA1


Legislative Update - Kill SB379!

2009 Session Update #5








List of Senate Corporation and Transportation Committee Members


READ SB379
HERE!



ick Links
Join NMOHVA or Renew Your Membership

More About Us

Call Senators to Kill SB379


NMOHVA has completed its analysis of SB379. This bill aims to change the OHV Act passed in 2005. SB379 is a BAD piece of legislation.

Here are some of the items in the bill. They clearly show why this is such a BAD bill:

1) An outright ban on anyone under the age of 14 operating an ATV or UTV. That is right. If you are under 14, YOU DON'T GET TO RIDE. AT ALL!
2) Allows the state to arbitrarily set any sound emission standard they choose, even if it is way lower than anywhere else in the US or is impossible to meet with today's technology.
3) A 50% increase in the OHV sticker fee. This increase comes even though they haven't spent the money they have already collected and they haven't given any reason why they need even more of our money.
4) The bill requires that over half of our sticker fee money must be spent on law enforcement. We supported the 2005 OHV Act because it emphasized education. Yet not a single child has been trained with sticker funding to date. Now they want to use our money for law enforcement instead.

There are so many things wrong with this Bill that we believe it should be killed outright rather than try to change it.

The first step in legislative approval is the Senate Corporation and Transportation Committee. This committee may vote on the bill as early as Monday afternoon. Let's do our best to kill it right here and now. If a majority of the Senators on the committee vote against SB379, it dies right there.

The link to the left identifies the State Senators who sit on the committee. If your Senator sits on this Committee, call his office the first thing Monday morning. A staff person will answer the phone. It is their job to log the opinions of citizens who call in. Give your opinion on SB379. If you can't call, send an email. If your Senator doesn't sit on the Committee, pick out a few Senators and call their office anyway! The point we want to make is that there are a lot of OHV users in New Mexico and we OPPOSE SB379.

Then get your riding buddies, friends, family, neighbors, co-workers - anyone who is tired of OHV'ers being treated so unfairly and so badly and have them call a committee member also.

Let's kill SB379 right here and now.

Remember to check your email for NMOHVA updates. We will keep you informed on the status of the bill.

Mark
President - NMOHVA

[SteveLCetc]

Newest Message:

Invitation to NMOHVA Annual Meeting

Looks like free pizza on March 21st! Since we're new members, I think it would be good for some of us to show up. I will be there.

[SteveLCetc]

Bump - reminder about March 21st meeting:

Reminder of NMOHVA Annual Meeting

We're listed here:
http://nmohva.org/main/supporters.php
But look at the lifetime members... Thanks Harry!

[marcfj60]

Has everyone who's signed up for the NMOHVA email updates been keeping up with the progress of Senate Bill 379? I know it doesn't directly affect most of us since it geared towards legislating motorcycles, ATVs and UTVs. But, I can see how it's in the same spirit of gun control. If they can chip away at our rights in small pieces, eventually that will add up to big changes. You can read all about SB379 on the NMOHVA website. It has been heavily modified from its original version, thanks in large part to input and protest from the off-road community. However, it did pass by full senate vote and is now going to go through the House of Reps process. We all need to make sure we are talking with our State Congress to make sure that if it makes it to law that it is in the best interest of off-road enthusiasts and truly meets its goals of improving safety and responsible off-road use rather than just focusing on penalties and punishment, which is what its current focus is.

marc