“Nevadans deserve to know how their state will be impacted by the president’s initiative,” said Gibbons.  “In order to make informed decisions during the public comment period, Nevadans must have access to clearly defined maps and information on how Nevada’s forests will be affected by this initiative.  I encourage all Nevadans who are interested to attend one of the local hearings in Nevada or submit written comments to the forest service.”

“To date, the forest service officials in Washington have been very vague on the specifics of the president’s initiative,” Gibbons continued.  “For a state which is already under heavy federal ownership, this hedging is unacceptable.  Before the federal government decides to bar critical public access to these areas, we need to know what the federal government has in store for future generations of Nevadans. We need the specifics.  Nevadans must have this information.”

The next public hearing is scheduled to take place this Wednesday, December 8 at the Galena High School cafeteria in Reno at 7 p.m., and the Hadley Community Center at 6 p.m. on Thursday.  A hearing will be held in Elko at the Greenhaw Technical Arts Building at Great Basin College from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 16.  The first hearing was held in Las Vegas on Monday, December 6.

The public has until December 20 to comment on the proposed rulemaking.  Written comments may be submitted to: USDA Forest Service-CAET, Attention: Roadless Areas NOI, P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84122.

The address for e-mail comments is: roadless/wo_caet-slc@fs.fed.us.

The fax number is 1-801-517-1021.

A draft EIS is expected to be released next spring with the final EIS due by next fall.