Tonto has released the latest travel management plan. I would encourage anyone and everyone that has an interest in remote vehicle travel to pay attention and speak up - comment period is open. Lots of trails are slated to be closed including a lot of access to dispersed back country camping.
Map -
www.azgfd.com
The Tonto National Forest offers unique landscapes including Sonoran Desert cacti and flat lands that slowly give way to the highlands of the Mogollon Rim.
www.fs.usda.gov
There's a bit of misunderstanding behind this statement.
First, Tonto hasn't released the latest travel management plan. From the
Tonto National Forest Website- "The Tonto National Forest is releasing a
draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) to address identified short comings in the 2016 Final Travel Management Rule Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and associated Draft Record of Decision (DROD). This DSEIS responds to thirteen objections and the regional forester’s instructions to conduct additional analysis prior to issuing a final Record of Decision (ROD). The DROD was released June 7, 2016.
The final ROD has not yet been released."
Second- The comment period is open- but my understanding is that only comments from entities that submitted objections to the DROD will be considered. That's not overly clear on the website, but I believe this excerpt covers it- "
Comments must be made in writing, must have a direct relationship to the objection issues, and must include supporting reasons. To establish eligibility to submit an objection for the SEIS, comments must include the name, postal address, signature (or other verification of identity), and must be received or postmarked before the end of the comment period. " It is possible that my information is wrong, and that any comment will be considered, so
by all means submit your comments to them. However, if you want to be sure they are considered I recommend coming to the next TRAL meeting on Wednesday May 8, 2019 at 7PM at the
Mesa Ranger Station, and voicing your concerns there. TRAL submitted objections to the DEIS and therefore has standing to comment on the DSEIS. If you choose to do this, know that we can only comment on objections previously submitted. TRAL's objections were mostly regarding "
Objections regarding designations of specific route segments and areas" (Full list of objection categories at that link). In other words, we took issue with how some routes or parts of routes were designated- either they were restricted by vehicle size in a way we felt was incorrect, or possibly they were designated as 'decommissioned' and we felt they shouldn't be. I don't have specifics, but the comment map does have some information.
I can't state this loudly enough- comments in the vein of 'You guys can't close our trails' will not be considered- you must address specific concerns, for example- 'FR# provides unique access to excellent backcountry camping opportunities in xyz area and should not be closed'. Also, those comments must be related to the changes outlined in the DSEIS- you cannot comment on things not addressed in that document. The time to do that was before the DROD.
However, once the entire process is complete and the Forest issues its final Record of Decision (ROD), they are able to consider changes to it. From the same page linked above- "After the Final Record of Decision is signed, a motorized vehicle use map (MVUM) will be produced that shows the designated motorized routes on the Tonto National Forest.
This map will be updated, as needed, based on input gathered from both internal and external sources. The Forest consolidates all input and proposes changes to motor vehicle use designations, then completes an environmental analysis and decision to effect the changes desired. Motor vehicle use designations may also be changed in conjunction with other projects in a given area, such as vegetation management or stream restoration." TRAL is looking forward to the final ROD so that we can begin the process of fine-tuning the route inventory. We have been assured that route designations are not written in stone, but the process to change them can't happen until the big plan is finished.
Lastly, on the subject of trails being closed- many people look at the map and see a bunch of decommissioned, or closed, trails. Before you pass judgement on the plan and start screaming 'THEY'RE CLOSING ALL OUR TRAILS' I'd ask you to consider what those trails are, and if they have any value to you. If you can point at a decommissioned trail and say 'I drove that, and it shouldn't be closed because XYZ reason', then you have an argument. For the record, there are a couple of those, but we're talking less than 10, maybe less than 5- only two that I can think of. TRAL recently completed our first pass of the entire proposed Tonto route system. We inspected and signed nearly every route proposed to be open in Travel Management (TM), along with some of the routes designated as decommissioned, admin, etc, and also many routes that the Forest Service doesn't even know exist. We found that many of the decommissioned routes don't exist on the ground- either they never did or they didn't get enough use to remain visible. It takes many years of non-use for a route to become invisible, which says to me that those routes had no value to the OHV community. People tend to get upset when they see decommissioned routes on the Forest Service plans. TRAL has made a herculean effort to investigate these routes and has made objections to those it felt were of value, and we will continue to push for the inclusion of all routes of value to the OHV community.
If you really want to make a difference, join TRAL and help us. We have had a huge impact on the TM process, and will continue to do so. The more people in the OHV community that are involved in the process, the better it is for that community. You don't even have to 'join' TRAL to see what we're about- our official inspection runs are almost always open to anyone and are posted in the
TRAL Upcoming Events forum. If you like the work, you can volunteer as a route inspector, get trained and equipped, and lead a group of your choosing to investigate trails in the Tonto, and HELP US KEEP TRAILS OPEN!
