Landuse Request - North Lake Powell / Grand Staircase/ Glen Canyon

For those of you know know the area north of Lake Powell and this road and trail system, it is completely spectacular. If you've been to the area and know it well, good personalized letter in support of the beauty of the area should go a long way. they are asking for written/post marked letters rather than emails. This is actually good I think. Please see directions below, and thanks!


UTAH & ARIZONA - NPS Announces Off-road Vehicle Management Plan and DEIS

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

The National Park Service (NPS) has announced the release of the Off-road Vehicle Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Plan/DEIS) for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon).

The Plan/DEIS analyzes a range of alternatives and actions for managing off-road use of motor vehicles and on-road use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and street-legal all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The Plan/DEIS seeks to provide clear management direction to preserve Glen Canyon's scientific, scenic, and historic features; provide for the recreational use and enjoyment of the area and promote the resources and values for which the areas was established as a unit of the national park system. An electronic copy may be downloaded at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/glca-orvplan.

Comments should be submitted online using the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) system. Written comments may also be submitted to: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, ORV Plan/DEIS, PO Box I 507, Page, AZ 86040-1507 or delivered to Glen Canyon headquarters at 691 Scenic View Drive, Page, AZ. Comments must be received or postmarked no later than March 4, 2014. Comments should NOT be submitted by email.

The public is invited to attend an Open House to find out more about the Plan/DEIS and the alternatives. The Open House will be held Tuesday, February 12, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Headquarters, located at 691 Scenic View Drive in Page, AZ. NPS staff will make a short presentation at 4:30p.m. and 5:30 p.m. You may provide written comments in person at the Open House.

Additional open houses are planned in Blanding, Escalante, Kanab and Salt Lake City, UT. See the Plan/DEIS website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/glca-orvplan for information on times and locations.

Printed copies of the Plan/DEIS are available at some local libraries (Page, Blanding, Escalante and Kanab). For additional assistance in obtaining a copy of the Plan/DEIS, please contact them at (928) 608-6209 or via email at brian_carey@nps.gov.

Thanks in advance and, as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.

Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107

DCH, thanks for the info, I'm sending in a letter. GSNM is a nice place to ride.

Awesome, thank you Chris! Here are some important tips:


In looking at the details it is helpful if people perhaps stick to recommendations related to their 5 possible alternatives. This is summarized at this link posted as the intro letter:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/documentsList.cfm?projectID=19520

The ones we would support would be:

- Option A (bare min)
- Option C (most Preferred for motorcycle access)
- Option E which is a compromise and the most likely outcome. This would mean there would be some expansion of routes in the area...

These land use "options" almost seem like teasers to make the different pro use groups happy. We've seen the BLM go through this process so often now, almost every decision I've seen seems to take away much of the trails.

Let me put on the conspiracy hat here;
I wonder if there's a hidden agenda already in place to reduce public use while making us feel good by going through this process. Has anyone heard of the BLM selecting the "keep things the same" option? I sure haven't.

Not always in Utah in my experience. For example in the RMPs from several years ago we saw notable increases in certain trails and certainly some protections. So it is worth it - in my opinion!

thanks,
Andre

Ill send one in

Utah does seem more liberal when it comes to land use, I wonder about the other states, in NM it seems like a vehicle of preference to restrict our access.

Haven't you seen all the dumbass legislation that Udall, Heinrich, and Lujan have been passing in the name of protection?:huh

I am pretty bummed on this process. We jumped thru all the hoops with the Santa Fe National forest - going to dozens of meetings, submitting alternate proposals, commenting on the decisions at every step of the way. We filed appeals to the Record of decision (ROD).

We even went to a class on how to submit effective comments.

As of now we have lost over 99% of our single track trails. The forest service completely ignored our DEIS substantive comments in their final EIS and ROD. It looked like the cherry-picked easy comments to address.

NMOHVA has since filed a lawsuit on the matter.

Nearly all of our trails were User Created. About a third of these were included in the ROD, but they did not appear in the MVUM. The FS claims they have to be analyzed first or something. So we don't know if they will ever be open again.

Plus with the lawsuit going on I suspect the FS is not feeling too friendly towards us.

We had much better luck dealing with the Cibola National Forest for a system of trails just outside Albuquerque.

That's what I'm talkin about Bill.

Fiar enough. We are honestly lucky here but it will take efforts. Given that Alternative E is their preferred, this means there will likely be some development of additional trails in the area. And that has me pleased actually. It's just a matter of making that happen...

thanks,
Andre