Scoping Notice for Winter Travel Plan Revisions Fairfield Ranger District – Sawtooth NF
BLUERIBBON COALITION LAND USE UPDATE!
Scoping Notice for Winter Travel Plan Revisions Fairfield Ranger District – Sawtooth NF
Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,
The Fairfield Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest, located in central Idaho, is considering changes to their Winter Travel Plan in response to concerns that have been expressed concerning access to the winter backcountry travel areas in the Upper South Fork Boise River area.
Currently, an area buffering, and including, the road corridor from Couch Summit to Fleck Summit (FR 227 and 012) is closed to motorized use from December 1 to April 30. The primary reason for this closure has been to minimize disturbance of wintering wildlife that use the areas adjacent to the Big Smoky feed site and nearby riparian habitats (see map).
Due to recent changes in how elk are using the area and the requests to consider allowing motorized access through the closure area, the District is reviewing their winter travel plan in this area and are considering the following options:
1. No change in the current situation.
2. Keep the existing motorized closure in effect, but close the headwaters of the Upper South Fork Boise River to motorized winter use.
3. Open a motorized corridor through the closure area from Couch Summit to Fleck Summit, and impose some new motorized restrictions in the headwaters area to minimize disturbance of wintering mountain goats and wolverine denning. Both the wildlife closure along FR 227 from Bowns Creek to the Sawtooth Forest Boundary, east of Featherville, and the wildlife closure at the Big Smoky elk feeding station, would remain in effect.
A complete breakdown of the proposed changes are contained in the Scoping Letter which can be found on the Forest’s website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/sawtooth/projects/.
Your questions and comments regarding this proposal are an integral part of the planning process. Initial comments will be most helpful if they are received by March 22, 2010. All comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposed action and will be available for public inspection.
Send Comments To:
Fairfield Ranger District
Attn: Winter Travel Plan Revisions
PO Box 189
Fairfield, ID 83327
You may also hand-deliver your comments to the Fairfield Ranger District Office in Fairfield, 102 1st Street East, during normal business hours from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. Please remember that your comments must include your name and address
Email Comments To:
commentsintermtn-sawtooth-fairfield@fs.fed.us
Put “Winter Travel Plan Revisions” in the subject line of e-mail comments. Acceptable formats are email message, MS Word (.doc), plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf) or Portable Document Format (pdf). (Please note, in order to continue to be included in this process, e-mail submissions must contain a deliverable mailing address).
Fax Comments To:
(208) 764-3211
For additional information, contact Ann Frost, Recreation Program Manager, at (208) 764-3478.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107
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Category: Action Alerts, Political Arena
