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A road less traveled?
Road closure decisions coming to a forest near you

By STEVE AYERS
Staff Reporter

Will it be a road less traveled or fewer roads to travel?

It, in this instance, is a plan by the Forest Service to cut its inventory of roads.

The Travel Management Rule, as the plan is known, resulted from an executive order issued in 1972 directing federal agencies to ensure that "off-road vehicles on public lands will be controlledŠso as to protect the resourcesŠpromote safetyŠand minimize conflicts among the various uses of those lands."

The Travel Management Rule became effective on Dec. 9, 2005.

It requires that every National Forest in the nation create an inventory of its current roads and trails, then designate which of those roads and trails will ultimately be open for public motor vehicle travel.

Each National Forest has until 2009 to establish the list and begin closing roads.

With the Rule already in place, the only question left is which roads get the axe.

Over the next two and a half years, the Travel Management Rule will go through a public comment process before any decisions on specific roads are made.

On Oct. 18, 2006, the Coconino National Forest will bring the road show to Camp Verde's Cliff Castle Lodge for the first public meeting regarding the Rule in the Verde Valley. Statewide, the Forest Service will conduct 19 such meetings.

The public process has already begun in the Apache-Sitgeaves National Forest of eastern Arizona.

According to Bob Dyson, public information officer for the Apache-Sitgreaves, the rule will force the establishment a forest transportation plan for every National Forest.

"The truth is, we have many more roads than we can manage or maintain," Dyson said. "Now we need to decide which roads we want to manage and for what purposes."

Dyson said the Forest Service is overwhelmed with all of the roads it is obligated to manage.

According to the Forest Service's own estimates they manage 300,000 miles of roads open for motor vehicle travel nationally. In addition they estimate there are "tens of thousands of miles" of "user-created" roads, which "continue to proliferate."

"What we are asking the public, as we go through the process, is which roads do we keep open and which ones do we close," Dyson said. "We won't just close a road for the fun of it."

But, according to many private individuals, the Travel Management Rule is a thinly veiled attempt to throw them out of the woods and close large portions off for public use.

Stan Shavonis, a former logger in the Flagstaff area, is among those who see the rule as the continuation of a process begun years ago.

"The Forest Service is inherently lazy. They use the excuse that because a few inconsiderate people are ruining things in the forest, they need to shut it down for all of us," Shavonis said. "If they would just get out and do their job, and enforce the laws, these roads could remain open.

"The forests were set aside for all of us to enjoy and to use to the greatest benefit. There is just no excuse for closing them down just because they claim they don't have the resources to manage them."

Documents filed in the Federal Register detailing the process that established the rule show that Shavonis is not alone. Over 9,000 private individuals voiced their concerns over the rule, many feeling the Forest Service should never have finalized it to begin with.

Citizen comments expressed concerns over the rule causing harm to small businesses, recreation users, the tourist industry, local governments, local economies, families and access to public lands.

According to Dyson, the first round of public meetings will be used to compose a more accurate inventory of the existing roads.

"The first meeting is a kind of a here's-what-we-got type of meeting ­­ show everyone the issues ­­ why we are doing this process, and the like. Then we are asking the public's help to draw lines on the map of where roads are located that we don't have on our inventory.

"We are also getting people's comments of the process. Some people are very adamant, saying 'don't close any of the roads.' We put those comments down just as we do all the others," Dyson said.

He says, however, the public perception that the Forest service is trying to close off access to the forests is a misconception.

"I don't know where people are getting that information, but they are not getting it from us," Dyson said.

For information on the Forest Service's Travel Management Rule, and any future updates, go to the Coconino National Forest's Web site at www.fs.fed..us/r3/coconino and follow the "Travel Management" link.