Verde Valley 4 Wheelers - Verde Valley 4 Wheelers

SUGGESTED POINTS TO ADDRESS IN LETTERS re THE DRAFT EIS

All comment letters should be mailed no later than May 10 to:

CNF Travel Comments

P.O. Box 1919

Sacramento, CA  95812

Following are a few important points that you should consider in drafting a letter:

Explain why keeping roads open is important to you.

Identify any specific roads that are not identified as open.  Be sure and address that issue and explain why it should remain open.

It is important to note that the Coconino National Forest has been open to OHV use based on the previous planning decisions.  Therefore, ALL routes that are now used should be a part of the inventory base and NOT just the National Forest System routes.  The Alternatives must fully analyze the closure of all of these routes and not just those in the system.  The “existing situation” is that all roads are “open”.  All routes that will not be designated as open must be analyzed.

References in the document to "unauthorized roads" is erroneous because all roads are considered open under the existing situation.

An exception to the “Game Retrieval” prohibition would be to permit retrieval over frozen or snow covered ground.

“Exploration" opportunities have been eliminated with the mass proposed closures.  This has eliminated opportunities to explore the backcountry without concentrations of other vehicles, dust etc.  Vehicles need more dispersion to maintain a quality semi-primitive off-highway motorized experience,

Alternatives discriminate against seniors who have limited physical capability and rely upon the motorized trail network for access to the forest lands.

Road specific analyses must be provided for both system and non-system roads.  Mitigation is always an option that should be considered.

Road maintenance appears to be an important criteria and there apparently isn’t any room in the FS systems process to consider”unmaintained” roads or trails.  These are important to Jeeps.   Call them primitive trails or special use trails but INCLUDE them.

The closing of many of the existing historically used routes is discriminating against seniors, small children, and people with limited mobility, etc.

An Alternative should be suggested that includes:

In addition to roads classified as “open” in the proposed action, consider all other system and non-system roads as roads which are “designated for open use” until such time that they are determined to be “undesignated” through site specific analyses and decision.  This process would examine appropriate mitigation measures also.  This would allow these routes to be able to be utilized by the public until such time that issues/resource concerns would dictate their closure.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 April 2010 18:31