The future of the SBNF is in your hands!

[sarah]

Fellow Jeepers, our local forests need your support!
If you only take action on this environmental stuff once in your life, make this one be it. The Forest Plans for the four Southern California forests has been released to the public today. There will be many open houses in and around the forest, and we'll be updating you all as we find out more information.

I said before that we need to make comments but the truth is, it's too late. My bad.

Please, everyone, read this thing and attend a meeting, there are alot of wilderness areas on the ballot, which equals NO ACCESS. The area of Pontiac Sluice and Heartbreak Ridge for example - yes, this is hitting very close to home.

We'll keep this thread updated, so stay tuned, and please participate however you can.

[TJSUPE]

Thanks for that Info Sarah. There is a meeting spot right next to where I work in SJC. I havnt had time to really get into the site, but I am hoping that they go over all forests at each location, rather than just dealing with the cleveland national forest only in the area.

[king4wd2]

I will try to make it to the one here in Hesperia on 10/19/05, due to the fact of having oral surgery having my last wisdom tooth removed :ouch:

[sarah]

Here are the official 14 questions and answers

Q1. What do the new Forest Plans emphasize?

A. The new plans emphasize recreation use while restoring forest
health and protecting the unique biological resources of southern
California. The selected alternative has been modified from the
preferred alternative identified in the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement to reflect comments received from the public, tribal
governments, other agencies, scientific review, agency review, and
consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries.
You can find more information on the selected Alternative 4a in the
Record of Decision published for each Forest.

Q2. Does the new plan identify the locations where you are planning
new campgrounds and other facilities? What about plans for specific
roads and trails construction or closures?

A. The Forest Plans do not make site-specific decisions such as
sites for construction of new campgrounds or other facilities.
Likewise, the plans do not identify any specific roads or trails
projects. Similar to county zoning plans, they provide a broad-based
strategic framework to guide local managers in future planning and
decision-making. The plans identify the suitable uses within each
land use zone, and the standards that must be met by various
activities.

Q3. What will be different under the new plans?

A. Land Use Zones – The new Forest Plans apply land use zoning that
includes: Developed Area Interface, Back Country, Back Country
Motorized Use Restricted, Back Country Non-Motorized, Critical
Biological, proposed Recommended Wilderness, Existing Wilderness, and
Experimental Forest (Angeles NF only).

B. Recreation – The new plans recognize our growing populations and
provide strategies to manage increased use, including emphasis on
public education to resolve resource conflicts.

C. Motorized use – Zoning has been fine-tuned to more clearly
display where motorized use is appropriate. Motorized use is allowed
only on designated forest system roads and trails.

D. Focus on Forest Health – The new plans focus on treating
vegetation to promote forest health.

E. Fuels Treatment in the Urban Interface – The new plans emphasize
treating hazardous fuels by prescribed burning, thinning and other
techniques. Most work will be done in the urban interface; some work
will be done in remote areas.

F. Wildlife and Biodiversity - The new plans establish new wildlife
protections, including Critical Biological zones and additional
standards to protect species at risk. They also considered areas
where linkage is needed between wildlife habitat on National Forest
lands and similar habitat outside the Forest boundary.

G. Mountain Bikes – The new plans restrict mountain bicycles to
system roads and trails, outside of Wilderness or the Pacific Crest
Trail. No cross-country travel is permitted.

H. More Flexible Standards – Standards provide greater flexibility
to protect forest resources while using adaptive management to
monitor impacts resulting from other permitted uses. Existing
special use permits will be brought into compliance at permit re-
issuance.

Q4. How did you decide which areas to propose for recommended
Wilderness?

A. The decisions on which areas to recommend for Wilderness
designation were made after careful consideration of factors specific
to each area. Wilderness evaluations were prepared as a part of the
planning process and included examining Wilderness characteristics
and manageability (capability); weighing if the value of Wilderness
offset other foregone values including other uses and demands
(availability); and considering the public need for additional
Wilderness and contribution to the National Wilderness Preservation
System. One example of a use foregone by Wilderness is mountain
biking. Another is the full range of tools to actively manage
important needs such as fuels treatments. Managers considered the
overall issues of each area to make a decision to recommend
Wilderness or not.

Q5. How does Wilderness get designated?

A. The Department will submit its administrative recommendation for
Wilderness to the President and Congress for congressional action.
The Congress has reserved the authority to make final decisions on
Wilderness designation. In the interim, the plan directs that
Wilderness characteristics be protected in the areas until Congress
takes final action.

Q6. What activities are allowed in Wilderness?

A. Wilderness is managed to protect the primitive character and
natural condition of the area. Hiking and equestrian use are
allowed, while motorized use and mechanized activities such as
mountain bicycles are not permitted. Developments such as power
lines, pipelines, and other utilities are generally not permitted.

Fire suppression in Wilderness is allowed and protocols exist to
quickly obtain approval for the use of equipment and aircraft to
fight fires in Wilderness areas. Fears of lack of fire suppression
capability in Wilderness, especially near communities, is mitigated
in part by the adoption of a Wilderness fire strategy in the new
Forest Plans that allows for prescribed burning in designated
Wilderness to maintain Wilderness values or to provide for community
protection.

Q7. What happens to the inventoried roadless areas?

A. The inventoried roadless areas will be managed according to the
land use zones described in the Forest Plans. In most cases, the land
use zones reflect the current condition of the area, including
inventoried roadless areas. The new plans require that motorized use
be limited to designated forest system roads, trails, or OHV areas
(Cleveland and Angeles National Forest) only.

Projects in roadless areas will only be undertaken after an
evaluation of the effects of the project on the roadless character.
In general, roadless areas are managed in the new Forest Plans to
retain their undeveloped landscape character. Where zoning other
than Recommended Wilderness was applied, the intent is to offer
managers a broader range of options to actively manage these areas to
address important issues such as fuels treatments, forest health, or
habitat improvement.

Q8. How do the new plans address unauthorized vehicle use?

A. Both the prior plans and the new plans require that vehicles
operate only on designated routes; however, in some areas,
improvements are needed in the system to help discourage unauthorized
use. Although none of the four Forests intends to make large
additions to their OHV systems, all may eventually need to make some
adjustments. The Back Country zone provides the flexibility to make
those improvements.

Q9. Are any new areas being opened to off-highway vehicles?

A. The new Forest Plans do not open any new areas to off-highway
vehicle use. In fact, the plans require that vehicles be operated
only on designated routes. The current status of designated OHV
routes (roads, trails and limited areas on the Angeles and Cleveland
Forests) is unaffected by the new Forest Plans. All designated
routes or areas are in zones in which public motorized use is
allowed. Any changes in the future will be proposed within areas
that are zoned for public motorized use and will be subject to site-
specific planning including public involvement.

Q10. Why do the Forest Plans designate Critical Biological zones?

A. The designation of Critical Biological zones is intended to
provide an added measure of protection in the most important areas
for management of species which are most at risk. The zones are
focused on areas where there are active conflicts between certain
listed species and existing facilities or activities such as
campgrounds, road crossings, and grazing allotments. More Critical
Biological areas are selected in the approved plans than initially
proposed in the Draft EIS and Forest Plan. However, even though more
species and Critical Biological areas are protected in the new plans,
the acres do not show an increase. This is because in the draft the
Cleveland National Forest used relatively large Research Natural Area
boundaries as the Critical Biological zone boundaries but later
adjusted the boundaries to focus on species habitat, which is the
target of the zone's protection.

Q11. What is the Forest Service doing to protect habitat linkages?

A. The new Forest Plans address the areas where additional habitat
linkage is needed to connect National Forest land with other
important habitat areas. Because the Forests have limited funding to
acquire linkages, and because the Forest Service does not normally
acquire lands outside the National Forest boundary, the Forests must
work in partnership with state and local agencies to effectively
address the linkage issues.

Q12. What is the Forest Service doing to meet the needs of the
broader recreating public? Are you providing more trash pickup or
more restrooms?

A. Although the Forest Plans identify the uses that are appropriate
in each land use zone, the amount of funding is not a decision made
in a Forest Plan. However, the new plans do emphasize working with
local communities and user groups, partners, volunteers, and other
resources to help achieve these important recreation objectives.

Q13. What monitoring is planned?

A. Monitoring and evaluation are key elements of the new Forest
Plans and are intended to help us determine whether the desired
results are being achieved. The results of our monitoring will
determine whether changes are needed in the plan. This process is
called adaptive management. The public is encouraged to assist in
the monitoring effort.

[sarah]

Ok everyone, listen up!

I've posted the SBNF meetings on the calendar, so everyone go sign up for the one they can attend. If you attend only one thing this year - MAKE THIS IT! I better see everyone's names on the roll calls!!

There are also meetings for the Los Padres, Angeles, and Cleveland National Forests. We are focusing on the SBNF here, since we travel there the most and have adopted a trail there. Please feel free to visit the other open houses if you have time. Thanks!