BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST WILL
BE ASKING FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AN INITIAL PROPOSAL TO DESIGNATE
OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE ROUTES AND AREAS
CUSTER, SD: AUGUST 17, 2007
After over three years of public involvement and input on a new
travel management rule for the Black Hills National Forest, officials
are ready to present the first draft of a potential system of routes
and areas.
Interested people are invited to attend one or more meetings scheduled
in September to review draft maps of the preliminary proposal for
the transportation system on public lands administered by the Forest
Service in the Black Hills.
The meetings are scheduled from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the following
locations:
Sundance, WY – September 10, 2007 (Monday)
Crook County Courthouse, 309 Cleveland Street
Rapid City, SD – September 11, 2007 (Tuesday)
Best Western Ramkota Hotel (Rushmore Room)
2111 North LaCrosse Street
Spearfish, SD – September 12, 2007 (Wednesday)
Wilbur S. Tretheway Pavilion, 115 South Canyon Street
Custer, SD – September 13, 2007 (Thursday)
Crazy Horse Memorial (Mountain View Room)
Avenue of the Chiefs
A slide presentation on the proposal will begin at 7:00 p.m. each
evening. The public will then have an opportunity to review and
comment on the maps in small groups between 7:30 -8:30 p.m.
Comments concerning the scope of analysis must be received 60 days
after the Notice of Intent (proposal) is published in the Federal
Register, expected to begin in early September. The draft environmental
impact statement (EIS) is expected to be released in early 2008,
at which time there will be another public comment period, with
a final EIS and decision later in 2008.
Public feedback during this formal public scoping period will help
refine important travel issues and develop alternatives to the transportation
system that will be further evaluated through the environmental
impact assessment process (NEPA process).
The final travel plan will designate which roads, trails, and areas
on National Forest System lands within the Black Hills National
Forest are open to motorized travel. The final travel plan will
be published as a Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) that will depict
routes and areas open to motorized travel. The MVUM will be available
to the public and will be the primary tool used to determine compliance
and enforcement with motorized vehicle use designations on the ground.
Those existing routes, other user-created routes, and areas not
designated open on the MVUM will be legally closed to motorized
travel. The decisions on motorized travel do not include non-motorized
and over-snow travel.
Draft maps and other information concerning Black Hills National
Forest travel plan will be available in early September at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/recreation/travel_
management/ohv.shtml. If you would like to be on the Black Hills
National Forest Travel Management mailing list please email: r2_blackhills_webinfo@fs.fed.us
or call (605) 673-9200 with your mailing address.
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