Road Ripping in Six Rivers (without NEPA) that Prompted Lawsuit/Stipulation
Over the last few years, HQ has been concerned the Travel Management Rule was (and apparently continues to be) being used by some units of the Forest Service to illegally “authorize” ground-disturbing project-level activities associated with road and trail decommissioning.
The BRC, Del Norte County, CAL4WD, and several other groups challenged such actions in 2010 and the federal government agreed to a public process before using ground-disturbing activities to decommission routes.
Six Rivers NF Lawsuit with Stipulation
http://thegeneralsrecreationden.blogspot.com/2010/12/ohv-legal-effort-takes-forward-step.html
2011 Letter from Six Rivers NF Forest Supervisor Agreeing to Public Notice
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Smith_River_NRA_Kelley_ltr_RE_comments_5-25-11.pdf
HQ wanted to alert riders in Colorado that the same type of illicit road/trail decommissioning appears to be occurring in their state. Our good friends at the Colorado Trails Preservation Alliance recently sent a letter to the Gunnison National Forest challenging ground-disturbing activities associated with road and trail decommissioning. It looks like the agency skipped the public process as required by NEPA.
September 2, 2011 COTPA Letter to the Gunnison NF with photos
http://coloradotpa.org/news/news/letter-to-the-gnf-nf-supervisor-for-action-being-taking-by-the-gnf-district-ranger.html
The 2005 TMR was never supposed to be used to effect landscape level route closures or be used as the authorizing process to obliterate existing roads and trails. Unfortuntely on some units, TMR is being misused.
The TMR saga continues…
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