The Forest Service is seeking public input for the West Side Snow Range Travel Management Project.
The Notice of Proposed Action (NPA) legal notice was published on March 17 in the Rawlins Daily Times, initiating the 30-day comment period. Within the NPA, the purpose and need of the project, as well as a description of the proposed action is discussed. The purpose of the project is to manage roads on the Brush Creek/ Hayden Ranger District, improving safe access, while minimizing the environmental impact from recreation and travel.
Melanie Fullman, District Ranger and responsible official of the Snowy Range Travel Management Project, explained the reasoning behind the actions in the project.
"We are not mandated to reduce, but being that the budget does not come close to maintaining the existing road system in a good condition, it's probably not too surprising that, that's often what we propose because we can't maintain what we have. The budget is expected to further decrease so we have to be thoughtful and proactive and anticipate what future budget cuts will entail."
Therefore, a major aspect of the proposed action is the decommissioning of 97 miles of road from the West Side Snowy Range project analysis area.
According to Fullman, "we focused on roads that are in very poor condition, may not have been ideally located to begin with, or the type of use has exceed what the standard of the road was built to."
"Given the budget constraints, do you maintain all these little tiny segments of a half mile of road that don't go anywhere? Or do you put the money that you have into a road system that connects and get more bang for your buck," said Fullman.
In addition, under the proposed action, 82 miles of road usually open to the public will be converted to closed roads. However, some of these closures are to tackle a common public comment and safety issue. It is proposed that 35 miles of closures will be converted to off road vehicle (ORV) trails.
A noted highlight of the NPA is this addition of the solely ORV trails, to enable families with children under the age of 16 to legally ride. "ATV's can go on most of our existing roads, but if the roads are open to street legal vehicles, by the state of Wyoming, it cannot be driven by a rider 16 or younger," said Fullman. This will allow families to ride in a safer environment, improving access for some.
Fullman wanted to stress that during this time there will need to be some give and take. "Society requires that we be social and civil and that we work together; and we're doing the best we can with what we have."
For an electronic copy of the Notice of Proposed Action, visit the Forest Service website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/mbr/landmanagement/projects.
If interested in a hard copy of the NPA with full-sized colored maps, they are available locally at the Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger Station in Saratoga, Saratoga Branch Library, Encampment Town Hall, and the Rendezvous Lodge.
According to the NPA, written comments should be sent to the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Brush Creek /Hayden Ranger District: Melanie Fullman, 2121 Highway 130, PO Box 249, Saratoga, Wyo. 82331, or fax: 307-326-5250
Electronic comments should be submitted to [email protected].
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