8/27/09
A proposal to overhaul on- and off-road travel on the Carson National Forest will be up for more public comment now that the Forest Service plans to release Travel Management Environmental Assessments for each of the Forest’s five districts — Canjilon, El Rito, Tres Piedras, Questa and Jicarilla.
The public comment period on the Management proposals would have ended last week, but Carson officials had received complaints from off-highway vehicle advocates and environmental groups that the public would not be able to comment on the yet-to-be released assessments. Now the Forest Service plans to hold a new 30-day comment period after the assessments are released in mid-September.
“Quite a few people expressed concern over the environmental analysis and adding another comment period will allow them to be able to see the entire Assessment,” Carson recreations program manager Paula Coté said.
The Forest’s Travel Management plan calls for the closure of 269 miles of existing roads to motor vehicle traffic and prohibit general cross country use by motor vehicles in the El Rito, Canjilon and Tres Piedras districts, which were considered together because they are geographically connected.
The plan also calls for the Jicarilla district to close 14 miles of roads from the existing system and also prohibit general cross country use of motor vehicles.
The decision to make the assessments available for public comment was welcomed by both vehicle associations and environmental groups.
“They were the cornerstone of the proposal,” Mark Werkmeister, president of the New Mexico Off Highway Vehicle Alliance, said. “We couldn’t review them and call into question their conclusions. Overall, we’ve been disappointed in how the Travel Management plan has been implemented. It looks like their using it as an excuse to cut back on motorized travel.”
How the reopening of the public comment period will affect the plan is uncertain. Forest officials had planned to implement the changes in October.
Environmentalists want to review the assessments, but for far different reasons than the off-highway vehicle advocates. They support the road closures and off-road restrictions.
“We’re pretty excited that their allowing us to see the assessments,” Cyndi Teuli, Southwest Conservation Advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “We’ll be able to show people the significant impact of (off-highway vehicle) use on watersheds and endangered species.”