1) The meeting.

The schedule for each meeting is:

5 minutes - Welcome and Introduction
15 minutes - Presentation
60 minutes - Comments by the audience
5 minutes - Conclusions

As you can see, most of the meeting is reserved for taking and recording PUBLIC INPUT in a public forum. Due to the many, many speakers who requested time, each speaker was given two minutes to speak. The "presentation" was very poorly done and not of any use as far as information. The Forest Service Panel included a member of the national team who will be putting together the resulting EIS, the Supervisor for the Santa Fe National Forest, a FS Regional Director, the Regional Coordinator for Roadless Areas, and the Regional Forester for the Southwest Region. The Regional Forester explained, in her introduction, that the new Natural Resource Agenda includes four "legs": Sustainable Resource, Recreation, Protection/Improvement of Watersheds, and Roads. She explained that there would be no "new" roadless areas. They would be using the last 20 years of inventory work to identify roadless. Management of roads was identified as a primary concern. She explained that their would be two subjects that the FS would soliciting comments on in the near future. Roads and roadless policy. During this round of sessions, they would only be taking comments on the roadless policy and they would be taking comments on roads management when they release the proposed changes to the National Forest System Transportation System (expected in a couple of weeks).

The FS also indicated that there will be a second round of public input meetings on a Forest by Forest basis. They did not elaborate if this would be during this scoping period or during the comment period on the completed EIS.

2) My impressions.

The first session was absolutely packed full (150+) and they brought in an additional 25 chairs, filled them also, and still had people standing in back.

We (multiple use advocates) were very badly outnumbered last night from a very concerted and organized effort by the green groups. They were passing out hats and buttons and even had signs (although we never saw them used in the building). It was a Who's Who of the southwest green groups including Dave Foreman (Wildlands Project), Martin Heinrichs (NM Wilderness Alliance), the Forest Guardian director (Hitts) and members of every other green group you can name. The "beloved" mayor of Albuquerque, Jim Baca, even had a rep there to speak "for the mayor". Many of the green membership were members of a local University of New Mexico group and the majority of them were of college age.

The themes were common: Save these areas, protect them as wilderness, ban OHV use and extractive industries, include the Tongass NF in Alaska, etc. Lots of them broke the "rules" and added a plea to obliterate roads that currently exist and do a better job of closing existing non-system roads.

There was also a showing by multiple use advocates represented by the New Mexico 4-Wheelers (11 members), Blue Ribbon Coalition (Don Miller, NM Coordinator for the BRC Forest Roads Inventory), New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, People for the USA, some County Advocacy groups, and a handful of individuals.

The themes from the use advocates also had common threads: extend the comment period, no new roads necessary in most places but protect the existing roads, lots of statements about de-facto wilderness by defining roadless even where there are roads.

The Forest Service was hardly impartial. It was clear from the comments of the management during the introduction and presentation, and even clearer from the closing remarks from the Southwest Regional Forester, that they want to protect these "roadless areas" and are going to use the "strong public sentiment" for this proposal to push it through on a very fast track. It does sound, though, that the FS thinks there is a strong possibility that the comment period will be extended. They also talked about the possibility of the roadless area protection and the roads system management proposal being combined in the EIS and forward.

Bottom line: GET PEOPLE OUT TO THESE MEETINGS! GET PEOPLE TO SEND IN WRITTEN COMMENTS! The Forest Service is looking for an excuse to say that the public overwelmingly supports this initiative by the President. Even though these public comments don't (or shouldn't) count for more than a written submission, I believe it is highly important to make a good showing. If nothing else, it will keep Foreman and Friends from sleeping too soundly at night and looking too smug!

I attended the first of the FS "roadless" meeting in Albuquerque tonight (Tuesday). There were approx. 150 attendees, mostly wearing green hats. Literally, as someone had made and gave away green and white "protect our wild forests" hats. People who registered to speak were allotted 2 minutes. I counted 33 greens and 9 multiple users. Ten of my fellow NM4Wheelers attended, and three of us spoke. It was my first time ever public speaking in front of a group of people I mostly didn't know. I survived! I met one of the people on my NM BRC Volunteers list. I had phoned the three who live in or close to Albuquerque.

The planned for two meetings (6 - 7:30 & 7:30 - 9) turned into one extended meeting as an unexpected number turned out and signed up to speak at 6:00 PM. Initially they had stated that a lottery system would be used and not everyone was likely to get a chance to speak. The FS people tried to meet people who showed up at the door and brief them on what had transpired.

I just thought you might like a report.

Referencing a message relayed by Don....

The greenies indeed brought in the big guns to kick off the roadless campaign. Am pretty sick of hearing roughly the same rhetoric from dozens of speakers representing "every" closurist group in the Southwest.

Disturbing to me was the clear bias by several of those representing the Forest Service, both regionally and on their "plan steering committee." The chief ranger for the Southwest region (Arizona & New Mexico) must have a neck ache now from constantly nodding agreement to comments by the green extremes.

And also disturbing, the fast track companion plan to establish a "Long Term Roads Policy" that will be introduced in about 2 weeks. (a.k.a. Less-Roads Policy)