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Felicia Fonseca Unlike other Arizona forests, visitors to the Prescott National Forest can't pull off roads and travel through the landscape as they please.
Restrictions on cross-country travel to protect resources on the nearly 2,000 square mile central Arizona forest went into effect more than 20 years ago. So when the federal government directed forests nationwide to designate roads, trails and areas open to motor vehicle use in 2005, much of the work on the Prescott forest was done.
All Prescott officials needed to do was conform their existing restriction to the new directives. It fulfilled its requirement under the federal Travel Management Rule late last month by releasing a motor vehicle use map, giving an indication of what's to come on the state's five other forests next year.
"That will be the legal instrument for law enforcement to let people know where they can and can't travel on forests," said Prescott forest spokeswoman Debbie Maneely.
Prescott closed the forest to off-road travelers as part of a forest management plan it implemented in the 1980s. It eliminated 110 miles of road, leaving 1,500 miles of road and 410 miles of trails open to motor vehicle use. An additional 400 miles of trails are for non-motorized use.
For years, forest officials across the state have relied on signs to let hikers, off-road vehicle users, horseback riders, campers and other recreationists know where they can and cannot go. But those signs often are vandalized, torn down or simply disregarded, said Paige Rockett, spokeswoman for the Tonto National Forest, a largely urban forest near Phoenix.
"With widely publicized, distributed and available maps, then they have fewer excuses," she said. "Then you can get into some education first, then some legal sanctions to support what we're trying to do."
Much of the pushback over the federal rule has been from off-road vehicle users who fear that forest officials will shut them out of areas they like to ride. Conservationists also have raised concerns about allowing hunters to travel cross country to retrieve big game.
Jeff Gursh of the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition said between 5 percent and 10 percent of off-roaders believe there should be few restrictions on public land and don't respect the rules. But most simply want the forest to include off-roaders and their interests in travel management, by designating looped trails that are looped and fun to ride, he said.
"Some forests understand it, others would rather not manage for OHV use anyway," he said. "Some of them for years have had their heads in the sand hoping it would go away, and it didn't. It increased over 250 percent in the past 10 years."
The Prescott forest's challenge is that its trails system was designed before the use of bigger off-road vehicles exploded. The trails and two off-highway vehicle day-use areas don't accommodate vehicles with more than a 50-inch wheel base. But Maneely said those vehicles can travel within the roads system.
The motor vehicle use map also can be amended, and Maneely said the forest is encouraging visitors to point out any discrepancies among old road maps and the current one. Gursh notes he's pointed out 37 discrepancies so far.
Sam Frank, central Arizona director for the Arizona Wilderness Society, said the Prescott forest likely won't face quite as large a hurdle in public opinion as other forests whose lands have been open to cross country travel.
"It's the start of a period where people have to realize we really are at a point where resources are limited," he said. "Recreation, or access, doesn't trump all other benefits that these lands provide. It will be a unique time coming up, and this is just the start of it."
One part of the Prescott forest's map that isn't quite final is big game retrieval. The forest's current policy is not to allow hunters to drive off roads to retrieve their animals, but Maneely said that could change depending on what the Kaibab and Coconino forests decide. The idea is to have continuity in the northern Arizona forests where a hunter could step from one to the other without knowing, she said.
The Kaibab's Tusayan district had issued a decision that lets hunters drive one mile off every open road to retrieve big game, but that decision is under review after conservationists successfully appealed. -- Source: http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=73326 |
