Access Issues — Archives
New Mexico
Forest Service
Carson
- Carson National Forest Released Travel Management Environmental Assessment for 'West-side' Districts
Cibola
- Cibola National Forest Releases Long-Awaited Mount Taylor Travel Management Environmental Assessment
- Mountainair Ranger District Travel Management Proposed Action Now Available
Last Updated: May 12, 2009
The Mountainair Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest has released their Proposed Action for Travel Management for the District. The release of the Proposed Action marks the beginning of the NEPA process and starts the beginning of the Scoping process. Don’t be misled by the some of the titles on the Forest Service web site or even the title on their Proposed Action (they use the term ‘scoping report’ in the title), the Proposed Action marks the BEGINNING of the Scoping period which lasts 30 days.
The Ranger District has, in many regards, ‘thrown down the gauntlet’. They are proposing to close everything but the main roads. The proposed action proposed to close 296 miles of the 483.5 miles of system roads, not designate ANY motorized trails, and limit dispersed camping along the roads to ONLY 16.5 miles. How do you like that? Make you mad? Then get involved! When I looked at the list of roads they are proposing to close, the justification for most of the closings were “No Identified Public Use”. This means that they are claiming that no one from the public identified the road as one that gets used.
The good news is that the formal Scoping period, where the public can tell the Forest Service which roads they actually use, starts today and lasts until May 1st. So get busy. Identify exactly which roads you want the Forest Service to leave open and why and write a scoping comment. Don’t forget that the District covers both the Manzanos on the east side of I-25 and a separate and remote unit to the southeast.
What can you do? Let the Mountainair RD know which roads and motorized trails you use in the forest. Attend the public meetings. While comments are probably better made in writing (they are easier to make ‘official’), showing up at the meetings helps demonstrate to the FS that we care about which routes they designate in this District.
And then spread the word. I can’t help but think that the many hunters that use this area will be very surprised and quite upset to find out that they can no longer camp in the Mountainair District (except for along 16.5 miles of road) and can no longer use their trucks or ATV’s to retrieve downed game.
The schedule for the public meetings available by the link below.
Gila
Lincoln
Santa Fe
BLM
Carlsbad
Farmington
Las Cruces
Rio Puerco
Socorro
- Socorro Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement Finally Released!
13170-B Central Ave, SE PMB #322