Public Invited
to Comment on Route Designation Proposal
Sonora, CA (November 16, 2007) ... The Forest Service today announced
that the Stanislaus National Forest (NF) is inviting the public to comment on a
Forest-wide travel route designation proposal. The proposed action would allow
wheeled motorized vehicle travel on designated routes only, and focuses on
changes to the Forest transportation system. The Forest proposal does not
include or affect designated wilderness and other non-motorized areas.
The route designation proposal would generally prohibit public motorized
travel off of designated Stanislaus NF roads and trails. Direct access to
campsites, parking, woodcutting, or gathering forest products would be provided
by allowing wheeled motorized vehicle travel up to 100 feet off of designated
Forest roads and trails, provided that no resource damage occurs. The proposed
action would change the use of 324 miles of National Forest System (NFS) roads,
and add approximately 142.5 miles to NFS motorized trails.
The NFS roads and trails on the Stanislaus NF include approximately 3,000
miles of roads and 60 miles of motorized trails. The Forest is preparing an
environmental impact statement (EIS) that will analyze the impacts of the
proposed action, and seeking public comment by January 18, 2008 as part of
initial scoping. A series of public meeting workshops and “open house” events
are scheduled to provide detailed maps, information, and discussion about the
proposal. Route designation interdisciplinary team members will explain
opportunities to participate in the analysis process, and listen to comments and
suggestions from interested agencies, individuals and groups.
Proposal maps will be displayed at the public meetings, outlining the
diversity of road and trail opportunities for each specific Ranger District.
Forest specialists will be on hand to answer questions and assist participants
in providing useful, substantive comments for consideration in the analysis. The
meeting times and locations are as follows:
Calaveras Ranger District Proposed Action: November 26, 2007, from
5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Independence Hall, 1445 Blagen Road, White Pines, CA
Groveland Ranger District Proposed Action: November 28, 2007, from
5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Greeley Hill Community Club House, Fiske Road, Greeley
Hill, CA
Mi-Wok/Summit Ranger Districts Proposed Action: November 29, 2007,
from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sonora Oaks Best Western Hotel, Oak Glenn Room,
19551 Hess Road, Sonora, CA Forest Supervisor’s Office Open House
Dates--December 10, 11, 18, and 19, 2007, from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., Forest
Supervisor’s Office, 19777 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA
Modesto and West Point: Meetings will be held the second week in
January, covering the proposed action as it relates to all four Ranger
Districts, specific meeting place, date, and time are to be announced in a
future news release, posting on the Forest website, and by mail.
For more information on the meetings and the proposed action contact Sue
Warren, Stanislaus National Forest, 19777 Greenley Road; Sonora, CA 95370;
phone: (209) 532-3671 ext. 321; or, e-mail:
swarren@fs.fed.us. Detailed maps and tables describing the Forest
transportation system and the proposed action can be found on the
Motorized Travel Management EIS
webpage.
Comments on the proposed action must be sent by January 18, 2008 to be within
the 60 day timeframe from the date of publication of the Notice of Intent (NOI)
in the Federal Register. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act, the NOI initiates the scoping process which guides the development of the
environmental impact statement. A draft EIS is expected by May 2008, followed by
a 45-day comment period on the draft EIS, with the final EIS completed by
October 2008.
Comments may be submitted to Stanislaus National Forest, Attn: Motorized
Travel, 19777 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA 95370. Comments may also be submitted by
FAX at (209) 533-1890, or by hand-delivery to the address shown above, during
normal business hours, Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Electronic comments,
in acceptable plain text (.txt), rich text (.rtf), or Word (.doc) formats, may
be submitted to "mailto:comments-pacificsouthwest-stanislaus@fs.fed.us"
comments-pacificsouthwest-stanislaus@fs.fed.us with Subject: Motorized Travel.
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