Editor’s Note: The BlueRibbon Coalition sent over information on the West Side Snowy Range Travel Management Project in Wyoming.
The Forest Service is seeking input on the West Side Snowy Range Travel Management Project. The project area encompasses approximately 210,000 acres of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests in the Snowy Range portion of the Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District. All proposals are located in Carbon County, WY, east of Saratoga. The project area boundary is the Laramie Ranger District to the south and east and the Forest boundary to the north and west. The legal description is T14-19N R79-82W, 6th principal meridian.
The purpose of the project is to identify and create a road and motorized trail system that will provide safe access to and through the National Forest; provide diverse recreation opportunities, including opportunities for motorized recreation on trails designated for off-road vehicle (ORV) use only; be adequately marked and signed on the ground, and consistent with the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM); allow diverse non-motorized opportunities including non-motorized recreation and provision of wildlife habitat; minimize travel and recreation impacts to the environment; and minimize user conflicts.
The proposed action includes adding and removing roads from the National Forest road system according to access needs by forest visitors and forest managers, creating new motorized trail opportunities, and decommissioning roads that are duplicative, no longer needed, or are causing damage to ecosystems. The proposed action and maps are on the Forest web site at http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=40299.
BRC believes this proposal is too closure oriented. BRC urges local OHVers to send in specific comments on what roads and trails are important for riding opportunities, camping areas or hunting sites.
Hard copies of the Notice of Proposed Action and full size color maps are available on display at the
following locations:
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland, Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District, 2171 Highway 130, Saratoga WY 82331.
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland, Laramie Ranger District, 2468 Jackson St. Laramie WY 82070.
Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office, 1300 North 3rd St., Rawlins WY 82301.
Carbon County Libraries, Saratoga Branch, 503 West Elm St., Saratoga WY 82331.
Elk Mountain Town Hall, 206 Bridge St., Elk Mountain WY 82324.
Encampment Town Hall, 614 Mccaffrey Ave, Encampment WY 82325
Rendezvous Lodge, Hwy 130 and Ryan Park Road, Ryan Park WY.
Medicine Bow Conservation District, 510 Utah, Medicine Bow, WY 82329.
The Responsible Official for this project is Melanie Fullman, Brush Creek/Hayden District Ranger. The initial environmental analysis will be documented in an Environmental Assessment.
Please take the time to review the Notice of Proposed Action. Your comments and feedback will help to refine and develop alternatives and strengthen the environmental analysis. A formal, 30-day public comment is expected to begin on or around March 16, 2015, initiated with a legal notice in the Rawlins Daily Times, the newspaper of record (36 CFR 218.2). This may be the only opportunity to submit comments. Only those who provide timely and specific comments may be eligible to file an objection pursuant to regulations at 36 CFR Part 218.
Comments can be submitted by mail, fax, over the phone, in person, or by email. For objection eligibility, each individual or representative from each entity submitting timely and specific written comments must either sign the comments or verify identity upon request. The Predecisional Administrative Review Process outlining objection regulations was published in March 2013 and is documented at 36 CFR 218.
Comments, names, and contact information of those who comment will be part of the public record for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered; however, the District will not be able to send subsequent environmental documents to anonymous commenters.
Written comments should be submitted to the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District, Attn: Melanie Fullman, 2171 Highway 130, PO Box 249, Saratoga, WY 82331, or fax: 307-326-5250. Oral and hand-delivered comments must be provided at the Responsible Official’s office during normal business hours (8:00am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays). Telephone comments can be submitted to the Responsible Official at 307-326-2501.
Electronic comments must be submitted to comments-rm-medicine-bow-routt-brush-creekhayden@fs.fed.us in an email message, or portable document format (.pdf) or Word (.docx) format.
For more information concerning the proposal, or to receive a hard copy of the Notice of Proposed Action, please contact Monique Nelson, Environmental Coordinator, at {307) 745-2310 or moniquelnelson@fs.fed.us.