Date: 05/14/2009 pstrongBLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!/strong/p pstrongLAST CHANCE FOR COMMENTS ON THE BLACK HILL TRAVEL PLAN DEIS/strong/p pstrongDear BRC Action Alert Subscriber, /strong/p pThe Forest Service (FS) has released their draft plans for motorized travel management on the Black Hills National Forest. Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) are coming due and this is the last chance to let the FS know about any issues you have with the new plan./p pThe DEIS is available for review on the Black Hills National Forest's website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/recreation/travel_management/ohv.shtml. Comments received on the DEIS will be used to further refine alternatives for the Final EIS./p pThey plan to release a final decision in late 2009 and implement the decision in 2010 with the publication of the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM)./p pComments must be in writing (paper or electronic) and must be received by May 18, 2009./p pstrongSend Comments To:nbsp;/strongbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; BHNF Travel Mgmt Plan DEIS br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; P.O. Box 162909 br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sacramento, CA 95816-2909/p pstrongE-mail Comments To:nbsp;/strongbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; BHNFcomments@fscomments.org/p pstrongFax Comments To:/strongbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 916-456-6724/p pDelivered in person: At Black Hills National Forest offices located in Newcastle, WY; Sundance, WY; Custer, SD; Rapid City, SD; and Spearfish, SD./p pFor more information, call Travel Planner Tom Willems or Forest Planner Frank Carroll at 605-673-9200, or visit the Black Hills National Forest website at:nbsp; www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/p pWe've gone over the details and included some suggested comments in our Action Alert below./p p style="text-align: center"strongTHE DEADLINE IS MAY 18, 2009, SO PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE AND SEND br / THE FOREST SERVICE YOUR COMMENTS/strong/p pstrongAs always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.br / Thanks in advance for your support,/strongbr / Brian Hawthornebr / Public Lands Policy Directorbr / BlueRibbon Coalitionbr / 208-237-1008 ext 102/p pstrongBRC ACTION ALERTbr / COMMENTS NEEDED ON BLACK HILLS TRAVEL PLAN/strong/p pstrongSITUATION/strongbr / The Black Hills NF is accepting comments on their Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The comment deadline is May 18, 2009. For more information, call Travel Planner Tom Willems or Forest Planner Frank Carroll at 605-673-9200, or visit the Black Hills National Forest website at www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills./p pstrongWHAT YOU NEED TO DO /strongbr / Please send an email to the Black Hills National Forest. Use the comment suggestions below. Be sure to add a bit of personal information./p p style="text-align: center"strongTHE COMMENT DEADLINE IS MAY 18, 2009/strong/p pstrongMAIL WRITTEN COMMENTS TO:nbsp;/strongbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; BHNF Travel Mgmt Plan DEIS br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; P.O. Box 162909 br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sacramento, CA 95816-2909/p pstrongEMAIL COMMENTS TO:nbsp;/strongbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; BHNFcomments@fscomments.org/p pnbsp;Acceptable formats for electronic comments are text (.txt), MS Word or higher (.doc), Portable Document Format (.pdf), or Rich Text Format (.rtf).nbsp;/p pstrongSTEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS TO THE BLM:/strong/p pstrongNOTE: /strongPlease be polite and make your comments as specific as possible./p pSTEP 1: Open your email program and start a draft email. br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Address it to BHNFcomments@fscomments.org./p pstrongSTEP 2:/strong Use the comments below as a guideline for comments in your email. Cut and paste is okay, but try to make your comment letter as personal as possible./p pstrongSTEP 3: /strongTake just a minute to add a bit about where you live and where you like to ride. Be certain to include your name and address. A return email address is NOT sufficient! (quot;anonymousquot; emails are often discarded). Then click quot;sendquot; and you're done!/p pstrongCOMMENT SUGGESTION:/strong/p pOf the Alternatives presented, I strongly encourage the agency to adopt Alternative C./p pI strongly oppose Alternatives D and E. As a forest visitor who depends on motorized vehicles for access and recreation, these two alternatives are completely unacceptable./p pI support more trail mileage in the Hell Canyon Ranger District. OHV users prefer the trail experience to the road experience./p pWith very few trails designated in the southern hills, the plan is too dependent on mixed-use roads for OHV opportunity. This is not very family oriented because, even managed as mixed-use, you still need a valid operator license to travel on the road; this minimizes youth opportunities./p pIt would appear that some routes submitted by the public were not looked at or considered for various reasons such as not enough time, not having seen those trails in the map data, and mitigation issues.nbsp; Those routes should be flagged and kept as part of the inventory as quot;designated but not open to vehicle usequot; until mitigation or analysis can be completed.nbsp; These trails should not be automatically slated for closure until they have been looked at.nbsp; br / nbsp;nbsp; br / There are minimal meaningful connections of the trail system to gateway communities such as Deadwood-Lead, Sturgis, Hill City, and even Spearfish.nbsp; For a successful trail system, both community and enthusiast need to have access to the community services such as fuel, food and lodging./p pWe support the comments and information submitted to the Forest Service by the BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), the South Dakota Off Highway Vehicle Coalition (SDOHVC) and The Off-Road Riders Association (ORA).br / nbsp;/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/BlueRibbonCoalition/~4/vRsIUy6CU2A" height="1" width="1"/
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