Feb. 23, 2005 - Judge nixes forest vehicle plan
By SONYA SORICH Staff writer

Off-road enthusiasts may soon face an additional speed bump while attempting to traverse lands within the Eldorado National Forest.

A federal court judge has ruled that a 1990 Eldorado National Forest plan designating trails for off-road vehicles failed to comply with federal environmental laws and regulations.

The ruling also invalidates the off-road vehicle management plan for Rock Creek, an area within the Eldorado National Forest, on grounds that it failed to adequately address potential threats to wildlife.

So what does this mean for avid off-road travelers?

The effects, Eldorado National Forest Supervisor John Berry said in a phone interview yesterday, are still unclear.

"I have not seen the entire (court) decision," he said.

Even though environmentalists expect off-road use to be curtailed until the Forest Service complies with the judge's order, Berry said a concrete remedy has yet to be decided. He expects to determine a course of action "within the next week or so."

The lawsuit was initiated by a coalition of environmental groups, including the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Wilderness Coalition.

"With damage to the forest rampant and increasing, they left us no choice but to ask the court to review the legitimacy of the off-road vehicle plan," said Karen Schambach, president of the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation.

The conflict behind the legal debate goes back more than a decade.

In 1990, the Forest Service made an off-road vehicle management plan for the Eldorado National Forest after conducting an inventory of the existing system of trails, roads and tracks being used by off-road vehicles.

The 1990 plan, which created a designated route system, was challenged by environmentalists because it was not supported by its own National Environmental Policy Act analysis.

Environmentalists also took issue with an accompanying Forest Service plan to manage off-road vehicle use in the Rock Creek area, which spans approximately 23,610 acres in a northern portion of El Dorado County.

Environmentalists argued that the environmental impact statement for the Rock Creek plan failed to sufficiently analyze the cumulative impacts to biological resources.

"Prior to filing our lawsuit, the plaintiffs and a number of other environmental organizations had repeatedly contacted Forest Supervisor John Berry with our concerns, but he never responded," Schambach said.

But once environmentalists filed suit, a coalition of off-road groups intervened with a complaint of their own.

They challenged the management plans under a belief that the Forest Service was limiting off-road vehicles and recreational activities in the Eldorado National Forest.

Like the environmentalists, the off-road coalition relied on a belief that the Forest Service violated NEPA - but said the violation actually functioned to unreasonably hinder recreation in the area.

Ultimately, federal court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton dismissed the off-road coalition's claims, and ruled in the environmentalists' favor.

"We knew that an impartial court would recognize the problems with a plan that designated virtually every user-created route in the forest, without the slightest pretense at the legally required analysis," Schambach said.

She added her agency is willing to work with the Forest Service and the off-road groups to develop a plan that allows reasonable off-road recreation while protecting the forest.

http://www.mtdemocrat.com/articles/2005/02...ies/y2302_n.txt

Anytime I hear a comment like



from someone like Schambach my BS sensors go off big time. After all this is a person who built a house next to a legal motorcross area that had been in existance before she bought the land she built on - the sued the riding area out of existance because it annoyed her.

A quick google search for "Judge Lawrence K. Karlton" is informative. Quite a few ruling in favor of environmental groups dealing with everything from holding up logging, to preventing the use of pesticides, to taking water from farmers to re-irrigate the San Joquain.

Yep, sure sounds like the "impartial court" that people like Schambach have become so proficient at shopping for.

Although I live in a different country, hearing about us losing land anywhere for petty resons pisses me off! And if what Jason says about the motocross track it true Karen Scumbitch can go to the deepest parts of hell!