| News Release--FS Access Rhetoric Does Not Match Rulemaking
BLUE RIBBON COALITION, INC. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POCATELLO, ID -- For several years the Forest Service (FS) has said how important recreation was to the National Forest. However, the agency’s rhetoric on multiple-use access does not match what was published today in the Federal Register regarding its new road policy. The overall theme in the Notice of proposed rulemaking concerning how the public will access its forest lands appears to promote the Administration’s agenda to close millions of acres of lands now managed by the FS for multiple-use. In the document, the FS now directs agency officials to identify the “minimum” transportation system needed to administer and protect National Forest System lands. By looking at such things as funding (the agency has not asked Congress for more funding despite increased user visits to the forest) and the current agency/administration concept that a “locked gate” is proper forest management, one can see that the FS could easily arrive at their budget goal by closing 80% of the current FS road network. That prospect is what concerns the recreation community. Many times in 1999, Chief Dombeck referred to the fact that they can only afford to maintain about 20% of the 380,000 miles of the current road system. By not asking Congress for adequate funding and adopting “closed gate” management prescriptions nation-wide, the FS could achieve their objective by closing 80% of our forest recreational road system. According to Don Amador, the western regional representative for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, “This proposal takes more than a passing swipe at traditional multiple-use of our public lands. The FS clearly admits that various sections of this program could have negative effects on certain types of activities.” “The agency given its reluctance to ask for road and recreation appropriated monies from Congress will overlay its current ‘locked-gate’ management prescription onto millions of acres now used by hunters, off-highway vehicle users, Jeepers, sport utility owners, and snowmobiles,” Amador continues. Amador concludes, “The FS makes it quite clear that it intends to promote ‘wilderness’ non-management techniques onto lands used by the general public for diverse and dispersed recreation.” |