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Supes request more time for road input |
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Friday, 14 December 2007 |
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By Mike Gervais
Register Staff 12-13-2007
Time is running out for the comment period on the Inyo National Forest’s Route Designation plan, maybe.
Though the Forest Service says it is on a tight deadline to develop a system of routes that “provide an array of opportunities for access and recreation on National Forest lands, as well as protection for resources by curtailing motorized cross-country travel,” the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and Bishop City Council feel that there is more time available to allow the public to voice their opinions on the roads proposed for new designations.
That’s why this week the Inyo County Board of Supervisors approved a letter to the U.S. ForestService requesting an extension on the route designation comment period and initiation of “coordination” between county government and the Forest Service. Essentially, Inyo County wants a seat at the table, or at least some elbow room at the bar.
The Inyo National Forest completed its route inventory in October of this year. At that time it opened the public comment period, asking local residents to identify their favorite, or most used roads. That comment period for the Proposed Action for Inventory Motorized Travel Management Plan, or new route designations, for short, will be coming to an end this week on Saturday, Dec. 15.
But with approximately 3,000 roads, totaling more than 900 miles not slated for inclusion in the INF’s officially designated road system, the local governments are hoping that, for the second time, the Forest Service will push back its deadlines, allowing residents and both governments to review the roads on the designation list more thoroughly.
Despite one extension on the route designation deadline earlier this year, Inyo County Second District Supervisor Susan Cash, at a meeting last week, commented that the Forest Service has some “wiggle room” with its federal deadlines and can afford at least a 180-day extension, allowing time for local residents and visitors from out of the area who recreate in Inyo County to submit comments on the routes the Forest Service has decided not to add to the system.
Inyo National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch, at a Bishop City Council meeting in November already shot down a request from the city council to have the deadline pushed back.
Upchurch told the council he wouldn’t be extending the comment period again because the Forest Service is already “behind” due to the first extension that was handed down in October.
The Board of Supervisors is hoping to change his mind.
“In order to provide the public an opportunity to review the proposed action – including providing sufficient time for inspecting the trails and roads, not proposed to be recognized in the Forest’s Transportation System – and to evaluate routes affected by the proposed action relative to their recreation and/or livelihood, and convey this information to the county and the Forest Service, the Board of Supervisors hereby request that you extend the public comment period by at least an additional 180 days,” the letter from the supervisors to Upchurch states.
“We also ask that you recognize that winter conditions may preclude physical inspection of the affected routes, thereby necessitating a further extension of the comment period beyond the 180 days sought in this correspondence,” the letter states.
Furthermore, the supervisors noted that the Forest Service Route Designation Plan directly affects the Inyo County General Plan in that it may limit recreational opportunities in Inyo County’s tourist-based economy and negatively impact what First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius called the county’s “customs and culture.”
“The board is concerned that the omission of identified roads and trail from the forest’s Transportation System will, contrary to county policy, limit the ability of the public to continue to access and utilize areas of the forest in the manner to which it has grown accustomed,” states the letter.
“We’re talking about historical customs and culture and that’s what we need to preserve,” Arcularius said. She added that local residents have traditionally used Inyo County’s public lands for recreation, and though many of the roads on the route designation list are not at this time considered legal, they have been around for decades and “some of them could have had wagons on them” in the pioneer days. To deny access to those routes, she said, would be in direct contradiction to Inyo County’s General Plan.
Additionally, Third District Supervisor Beverly Brown said that the route designation plan could result in closures of roads used by the Native American community to gather pine nuts, which is a traditional activity for many families throughout the Owens Valley.
In addition to the request for an extended deadline, the supervisors wanted to guarantee that the county will have its say on the designation process.
“... The County of Inyo hereby requests initiation of a coordination process between the County and your agency ...” states the letter to Upchurch.
“Essentially, federal law requires that federal land use agencies coordinate efforts with local governments” in situations affecting that government’s constituents, said Kevin Carunchio, deputy county administrator.
According to Carunchio, the county is hoping to open dialog with the Forest Service to “discuss how to proceed with the coordination process” and develop a coordinated plan that will allow the county more ability to work with the Forest Service on the route designation process.
Through coordination, the county is afforded status different from the general public, Carunchio said.
And, he added, “the citizens could really help out the county through the coordination process” by discussing their concerns and ideas with the supervisors, who could then pass them on to the Forest Service.
During Tuesday’s board meeting the supervisors discussed the possibility of appointing a “citizen committee to evaluate the roads” that are on the route designation list and then provide the county with individual comments on each road. Then, through the coordination process, the supervisors could convey the comments from the public to the Forest Service.
“Our whole tourism industry is based on recreating on public lands,” said Cash.
Regardless of the deadline, comments the Forest Service receives during and possibly even after the comment period will be used to help the Forest Service formulate “a range of alternatives that will be analyzed in an environmental impact statement (EIS)” that will allow the agency to close un-used and unnecessary roads.
The draft EIS is scheduled to be available for public review and comment in the summer of 2008, but if the county and City of Bishop are granted their extension, that date will most likely be pushed back.
If the deadline is not extended, the Forest Service has said it will continue accepting comments, but cannot guarantee that they will be addressed in the EIS.
“Comments received later on in the process will be addressed to the best of our ability,” said Upchurch, “however the later they are received the more difficult it is to integrate them into the analysis. I encourage the public to get their input to us by Dec. 15.
“If someone thinks of something later on, they are still encouraged to submit their comments for consideration in the analysis process.”
Comments may be mailed to Travel Management Team, Inyo National Forest, 351 Pacu Ln, Suite 200, Bishop, CA 93514, or e-mailed to
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(enter “Route Designation” in subject line).
Guidance for providing comments, as well as optional comment forms, are available on the Inyo National Forest Web site at www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/projects/ohvroute5.shtml, where the public can also find additional information on the Travel Management – Route Designation process, including the proposed action and Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. To receive a CD with information and maps, call Marty Hornick at (760) 873-2461, or e-mail him at
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Last Updated ( Friday, 08 February 2008 )
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