California Route Designation Important Meeting

[Crruisercharlie]

Route designation meeting

***Please take the time to read this invitation***

Dear Interested Party:

As you know, The Pacific Southwest Region of the USDA Forest Service is engaged in a national travel management program to designate routes for wheeled motorized vehicle use. The purpose is to enhance management of National Forest System resources including motorized transportation systems. As a concerned member of the public engaged in Forest Service issues, we would like to invite you to a special briefing on how the program is going and work with you to ensure your participation in the process.

Meeting topics include:
* Route Designation and the National Travel Management Rule
* Region 5 Route Designation Status
* Participation and Collaboration Strategies
* Open Forum for Suggestions, Questions, and Answers

To facilitate your attendance, two meetings with the same presenters and topics will be held, one in Southern California and one in Northern California. We invite you to pick the meeting date and location most convenient for you. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to cobrien@fs.fed.us to help us ensure adequate accomodation and materials for the briefing. For questions or additional information please contact Colleen (Chaz) O'Brien at 707-562-8849.

Northern California Participants
5pm - 7:30pm Thursday, November 2, 2006
Red Lion Hotel, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento

Southern California Participants
5pm - 7:30pm Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Ontario Civic Center, 2000 Convention Center Way, Ontario

Sincerely,
Kathleen Mick
USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Trails Program Leader

You might want to add Inyo national forest route designation meeting open to the public on Jan. 23 at Inyo Forest Supervisors Office, 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop, Calif. Further info contact: Marty Hornick at 760-873-2461 or Nancy Erhardt at 760-873-2490

 

[Crruisercharlie]

John,

I'm sorry, I must have misread your post earlier, I hadn't noticed when you pointed out that my hands were tied. I just wanted to point out that others attendees did seem to get more from the meeting.

DISCLAIMER: this is just my personal opinion-

I think the reason the FS didn't go into more detail about how they're going to evaluate routes in California because they aren't sure of what they're going to do. They have been told that they need to designate routes but they haven't received much guidance about how to accomplish this task. The FS and BLM are in a very tight spot caught between the environmental groups and access groups while trying to follow many different laws and acts which are pulling them in different directions (ESA vs FLPMA and NFMA). They are mandated to provide for multiple use on federal land but they are told to minimize impacts to the environment. It's a tough job to try to accomplish. We, as members of the concerned public, need to work with the federal agencies to have input on how they will go about designating routes to be in compliance with the new rule.

John, it seems like you have been having a tough time working with the FS in your area. All I can say is keep trying and good luck.

Cheers!

I've found from the meetings that I've attended, that often there are more "greenies" there than offroad people, and that most of the offroad people there really don't have a clue. The offroad people that DO have a clue are people like Don Klusman, who is involved pretty much fulltime. Also most of the Forest Service employees have an "environmental bent" which makes them tend to lean toward closure of roads. They also are working under budget constraints which also make them tend to close rather than maintain roads.

 

[GeoRoss]

I thought that roads in NF's that cross private holdings can't be legally gated to prevent through access? This is the equivalent of an automatic 'easment'. This has been my understanding for both FS, BLM and State Trust land in AZ, but I guess that I am wrong.

Is the problem what is a road?