Tag Archives: travel management

Colorado: Hermosa Creek conservation bill gets a bipartisan introduction in Congress

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Summit County Voice 4/27/2013
Excerpt:     “FRISCO — Colorado lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are reaching across party lines to try and protect more than 100,000 acres of the Hermosa Creek watershed north of Durango.

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Rep. Scott Tipton(R-CO) are introducing companion bills that would establish management for the Hermosa Creek Watershed based on recommendations from the Hermosa Creek River Protection Workgroup. The panel includes local water officials, conservationists, sportsmen, mountain bikers, off-road-vehicle users, outfitters, property owners, grazing permit holders and other interested citizens.  …”
Read entire article at http://summitcountyvoice.com/2013/04/27/colorado-hermosa-creek-conservation-bill-gets-a-bipartisan-introduction-in-congress/

Bill targets state law enforcement in national forests

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Arizona Daily Sun 4/25/2013
Excerpt:      “PHOENIX — Under a state law that took effect in 2009, an Arizona Game and Fish Department officer enforcing hunting laws on federal land is supposed to stop someone from riding an off-highway vehicle in an area closed to OHV use.

To Jack Husted, chairman of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, that requirement takes away from an officer’s duties, which also include enforcing state laws on fishing and boating safety.  “We don’t think that a federal rulemaking body should be able to make rules and make a state peace officer enforce those rules for them,” he said.  …”
Read entire article at http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/277eee0a-0cef-5617-8fc8-ca362b0f979e.html

Judge sides with backcountry skiers in use lawsuit

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Associated Press; 4/1/2013
Excerpt:       “BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A federal judge in Idaho says the U.S. Forest Service broke the law when it didn’t craft rules to govern snowmobile travel, handing powder-loving backcountry skiers and snowshoe enthusiasts a victory that could extend to national forests nationwide.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush ruled Friday that the Forest Service must go back to work on its 2005 Travel Management Rule and draw up regulations designating areas of use and non-use by all off-road vehicles, including snowmobiles, on national forest lands.  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.njherald.com/story/21844729/in-powder-struggle-ruling-for-backcountry-skiers

Herrera Beutler addresses future of Gifford Pinchot roads

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Columbian 3/28/2013
Excerpt:        “CENTRALIA — U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, on Wednesday told community leaders she remains committed to open forest roads and preserving public access to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. At a community roundtable at the Lewis County Courthouse, Herrera Beutler solicited input from about 25 stakeholders regarding the management of federal forest roads and overall forest health.

The Forest Service must figure out how — with a downsized budget — to reduce the number of roads and trails in Gifford Pinchot from about 4,000 miles to about 1,000 miles by the year 2015……”
Read entire article at http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/mar/28/1ce-herrera-beutler-addresses-gifford-pinchot-road/

Wallowa-Whitman road closures still on hold one year later

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Oregonian 3/26/2013
Excerpt:      “LA GRANDE — The U.S. Forest Service was on the verge of banning vehicles from 4,000 miles of road in Oregon’s largest national forest last April when fierce opposition from locals ground the plan to a halt.

A year later, there’s been little progress replacing the controversial “Travel Management Plan” for Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, which took six years to prepare. Jodi Kramer, a spokeswoman, said federal foresters want to head back to the drawing board but have set no timeline.    …..”
Read entire article at http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/03/wallowa-whitman_road_closures.html

380,000 acres of wilderness to be declared off-limits to vehicles under proposed plan

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Village News 3/23/2013
Excerpt:      “RIVERSIDE – SAN DIEGO – About 380,000 acres of wilderness areas in four Southern California national forests would be declared off-limits to vehicles under plans that are up for public comment this month.

Large sections of the Santa Ana Mountains, between Irvine and Lake Elsinore, would be affected, as well as areas near Lytle Creek, near Cherry Valley and south of Palm Springs. The largest new proposed wilderness area is adjacent to the Sespe Creek wilderness areas north of Ojai.   The new wilderness areas are one if several options being considered by the U.S. Forest Service, which is under court order to follow Congressional directives to declare part of the local mountains wilderness.   ….”
Read entire article at http://www.thevillagenews.com/story/70160/

Idaho House Panel Agrees to Study Federal Land Transfer

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Magic Valley Times News 3/20/2013
Excerpt:         “BOISE • State lawmakers officially began their efforts Tuesday to wrest control from the federal government millions of acres of public forest, backcountry and rangelands across the state.

The House State Affairs Committee voted along party lines in support of a resolution that demands the federal government transfer ownership of about 35 million acres now overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies.   ….”
Read entire article at http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/idaho-house-panel-agrees-to-study-federal-land-transfer/article_2e7da01e-4977-5377-adc9-435a166788f4.html

Lawyers, environmentalists continue court fight over trout

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Elko Daily Free Press 3/11/2013
Excerpt:      “RENO (AP) — The U.S. government says environmentalists are back in court on nothing more than a “fishing expedition” in a decade-old attempt to again close 1.5 miles of a gravel road along a threatened trout stream near the Nevada-Idaho line leading to some of the most remote, federally protected wilderness in the nation.

The conservationists insist they’re trying to save the fish — a job they say has fallen to them because the U.S. Forest Service has shirked its responsibility to enforce locally unpopular laws.  ….”
Read entire article at http://elkodaily.com/news/lawyers-environmentalists-continue-court-fight-over-trout/article_7139e06c-89ea-11e2-9275-001a4bcf887a.html

Plan for Road Damaged by Old Flood Ducks Suit

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Courthouse News 3/5/2013
Excerpt:        “    (CN) – The U.S. Forest Service did not violate environmental law in its nearly 20-year effort to repair a flood-damaged road near a Nevada wilderness area, the 9th Circuit ruled.
South Canyon Road, in Elko County, Nev., is the only way to the Snowslide Gulch Wilderness Portal in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Jarbidge Wilderness. The Jarbidge River flooded in 1995 and damaged the road, cutting off access to most vehicles.
For several years the U.S Forest Service worked on a plan to repair the road, while Great Old Broads for Wilderness and the Wilderness Society proposed replacing much of it with a hiking trail.   ……”
Read entire article at http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/05/55449.htm

Grant County Commission opposes travel plan in Gila National Forest

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Silver City Sun Times 2/15/2013
Excerpt:        “SILVER CITY — The Grant County Commission has sided with the New Mexico Association of Counties in a resolution to oppose the U.S. Forest Service’s travel management plan which would limit motor vehicle access to some roads in the Gila National Forest.

In the resolution, the association states that New Mexicans need public access to roads, even in the forest, for emergency purposes, protection of the rights and values of private property owners, natural resource management, economic and social well-being, recreation, and the customs and cultures of the communities and citizens of New Mexico. ….”
Read entire article at http://www.scsun-news.com/ci_22601876