Bishop - INF denies 2nd extension of route comment period

1-12-2008

Time has run out to submit comments on the U.S. Forest Service Route Designation program in the Eastern Sierra.

informed that the U.S. Forest Service rejected its request to extend the route designation comment period by 90 days, citing that it has already extended the comment deadline once.
The Forest Service has outlined 3,000 roads totaling more than 900 miles in the Inyo National Forest and surrounding areas that will not be included in the forest’s officially designated road system. Residents had from September until December of last year to submit comments on their favorite roads in an attempt to save them from closure.
Both the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and the Bishop City Council felt that the threat of all those roads not being included in the official forest system would be damaging to the county’s culture, heritage, recreation and even the economy.
Both bodies of government requested an extension of the deadline to give residents and visitors more time to comment on individual routes.

A group of residents listen to a presentation at a U.S. Forest Service scoping meeting held last year. The Forest Service held several such meetings to gather input from residents on the route inventory process, and will likely hold more once the draft Environmental Impact Statement is approved. File photo

The Bishop City Council requested that the Inyo National Forest continue accepting comments after the Dec. 15 comment deadline. The Board of Supervisors asked for a six-month extension on the deadline, citing that the Forest Service was ahead of schedule and could afford to spent a little extra time receiving comments.
Inyo National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch said that if the Forest Service were to extend the comment period, it would have been for the second time. Upchurch already pushed the deadline back by 45 days back in October, shortly after the comment period opened.
Upchurch told the Bishop City Council he wouldn’t be extending the comment period again, as INF was already “behind” as a result of the first extension and he has a responsibility to allow his staff to get to work on the comment analysis process.
That doesn’t mean anything said or written on the matter after the Dec. 15 deadline won’t be taken into consideration.
Upchurch has previously said that comments received after the comment deadline will be addressed. But, he said, the later comments are received the more difficult it will be for the Forest Service to thoroughly analyze them.
Comments received during, and presumably after, the scoping period will be used to craft a draft Environmental Impact Statement slated for release this summer. The public will have a chance to comment on the document at that time, before a final EIS is released.
On Dec. 15, the Advocates for Access to Public Lands (AAPL) hand-delivered a stack of more than 3,600 route-specific comments to the Forest Service office in Bishop hours shy of the deadline.
As for the Board of Supervisors, it hasn’t given up on efforts to get a seat at the table when it comes to deciding which roads will be included in the official designated forest system.
At a meeting in December, the Board of Supervisors initiated coordination between the county and the Forest Service on the route designation process.
According to County Administrator Kevin Carunchio, the county is hoping to open dialog with the Forest Service and develop a coordinated plan that will allow the county 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.
Comments on the route designations may still be mailed to Travel Management Team, Inyo National Forest, 351 Pacu Ln, Suite 200, Bishop, CA 93514, or e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it