The Forest Service has prepared a draft environmental impact statement on alternatives that could reduce by as much as 60 percent the roads or trails that can be used by cars, truck, motorcycles or allterrain vehicles. One proposal would ban off-road driving altogether.
The plans were developed in response to public comments on a "proposed action" on motorized travel unveiled in 2008, part of a mandate for all national forests to review the issue.
Now another round of public comment will be gathered on the Santa Fe forest plans, which have drawn support from environmentalists and others and raised concern among hunters, off-road enthusiasts and other forest users.
All of the plans - except for the unlikely option of mak- ing no changes at all to travel rules - would reduce by 45 to 60 percent the areas that can be reached by vehicles.
With the growth of off-highway vehicle use, doing nothing to manage off-road travel "would be irresponsible," the U.S. Forest Service said in materials provided Thursday.
"The forest is proposing to manage this growing recreational use by eliminating cross-country travel and by designating roads and trails that are appropriate for use by vehicles, by vehicle type and time of year," the Forest Service said.
The alternatives, after the no-action option, include:
The "proposed action," debuted to the public for debate in 2008, would reduce the amount of road open to vehicles from the current 4,924 miles to 2,309 miles, and the number of trail miles for all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles from about 591 to 247. This alternative would allow for hunters to use vehicles for retrieval of big game within certain expansive corridors.
Alternative 3 would have fewer roads and trails open to vehicles than the initial plan and would set a hard rule that there is no off-road driving for any reason. To camp or retrieve game, someone would have to park and hike.
Alternative 4 would allow for more roads, trails for motorized vehicles and areas designated for access by vehicle than the 2008 proposal, but still less than people drive on now, and of all the plans would allow the most places for forest users to retrieve game or set up campsites.
Alternative 5 would have the same amount of areas open to motorized vehicles as the proposed action, but they're arranged in geographic clusters, so ATV riders would have their own section of forest to drive on, and more traditional hikers or campers could be in another section without encountering motorized vehicles.
Jiron said it has taken about four years to finish the draft, mandated in the early 2000s by the Forest Service after it identified unmanaged motorized recreation as an ecological threat.
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Albuquerque Journal
