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Coalition for Public Accesse-ALERT (December 4, 2008) |
Dear CPA Friend,
CPA needs your help in support of Nevada Senate Joint Resolution No. 2 (S.J.R. 2) that “Urges Congress to take certain actions concerning wilderness areas and wilderness study areas”.
The Forest Service – Bridgeport Ranger District – will be holding three public meetings next week to solicit public comment on a new Travel Management Plan. This will be a significant change in how the public is allowed to use motorized vehicles (autos, ATVs, dirt bikes, etc.) on 1.2 million acres of FS public lands (the entire Bridgeport Ranger District). Please take the time to read this email and attend one of the scheduled meetings or you may lose access to some of your favorite recreational areas.
Quoting from the Travel Management Scoping Document (found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/projects/bridgeport/BTMScoping.pdf).
• [The] Travel Management Rule requires designation of those roads, trails, and areas that are open to motor vehicle use on National Forests.
• The final rule prohibits the use of motor vehicles off the designated system.
• Forest visitors would no longer be authorized to drive cross-country to hunt, retrieve game, create dispersed camp sites, or engage in other cross country motorized off-road recreation opportunities.
• Only NFS roads and NFS trails can be designated for motorized vehicle use. In other words, if a road/trail is not in the NFS inventory system it will be closed to motorized travel.
The FS will be holding three meetings to receive public comment on the proposed Travel Management Plan which consists of two maps showing the proposed roads and trails (map 1 found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/projects/bridgeport/bptmeastmap.pdf a 5mb file download and map 2 at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/projects/bridgeport/bptmwestmap.pdf a 13mb file download). Downloading over a dial-up connection takes a long time and viewing these maps on a computer screen is very difficult so please attend one of the following meetings to view and discuss the maps and make your comments:
• Hawthorne, Nevada: December 8, 4-6 pm. Mineral County Public Library. 1st and A St. Hawthorne, NV.
• Bridgeport, California: December 9, 4-6 pm Memorial Hall, 100 Sinclair St, Bridgeport, CA.
• Smith Valley, Nevada: December 10, 6-8 pm. Smith Valley High School Multi Purpose Room, 20 Day Lane, Smith, NV.
The comment period closes December 31, 2008. A Draft Environment Impact Statement is expected to be available for public comment in May 2009 and the Final Travel Management Plan is expected to become effective by December 2009.
If you use public lands for recreational or economic purposes you need to get involved in this project. To ignore this activity is transferring your interests and rights to influence the use public lands to the Forest Service planners.
Thank you,
Board of Directors, Coalition for Public Access