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Show Monument Plan WiU Limit ATV, Bike Use To Designated Routes The recent release of Bureau of Land Management's Proposed Management Man-agement PlanFinal Environmental Impact Statement on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Monu-ment has most recipients complaining complain-ing that the document's 30-day deadline for public comment is far from enough time to digest a and respond. Many received their printed copies cop-ies of the 400-page document on Monday and Tuesday but at press time, others were still waiting. The document was officially released re-leased on Internet on Monday, July 26 and the official mail out of printed copies followed. When contacted, Garfield County Commissioners had barely 24 hours to digest some of the monument issues. Commissioner Clare Ramsay in Tropic said the commission has set a planning and strategy meeting for Aug. 18 to meet with their attorney and develop de-velop language for their official protest, which must be filed within 30 days. "This is a whole lot to digest and comment on within that 30-day time frame," Ramsay said. The News also contacted several ranchers, ATV enthusiasts lind individual indi-vidual community leaders, but none had their planning document long enough to feel prepared to make a public statement. Protest Procedures According to the planning document's protest procedures section, sec-tion, only those persons or organizations organi-zations who participated in the scoping or comment period for the 1998 Draft Management PlanDraft Environmental Impact Statement planning process leading to this Proposed Plan may protest. If . Planning Team records do not indicate indi-cate a person's involvement in any stage in the preparation of the Proposed Pro-posed Plan, the protest will be dismissed dis-missed without further review. A protesting party may raise only those issues which heshe submitted for the record during the planning process. New issues raised in the protest period should be directed to the Monument Manager Man-ager for consideration in plan implementation, im-plementation, as a potential plan amendment, or as otherwise appropriate. appro-priate. The period for filing a plan protest pro-test begins with the Envirorl-mental Protection Agency publica-tion of the Notice of Availability of the Proposed PlanFinal Environmental Environ-mental Impact Statement in the Federal Register. The protest period pe-riod extends for 30 days. There is no provision for an extension of time. To be considered timely, a protest must be postmarked no later than the last day of the protest period. pe-riod. Although not a requirement, it is suggested that protests be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. re-quested. The Garfield County News will reprint portions of the Proposed Management Plan over the next several weeks as space is available to try to familiarize county residents resi-dents with some of the massive issues facing this area. Quoting the document: TRANSPORTATION AND ACCESS Public Access "The unregulated use of off-highway off-highway vehicles (OHV), also called all-terrain vehicles (ATV), including snowmobiles, off of designated des-ignated routes has the potential to damage Monument resources and cause recreation conflicts. Crosscountry Cross-country vehicle travel can damage Monument objects associated with these resources which are sensitive to surface disturbance. Resources sensitive to this disturbance include archaeological, paleontological, (See MONUMENT oa Page 7A) Monument Plan Reveals ATVOHV Changes From Front Page geological, historic, biological soil crusts, special status plant and animal ani-mal species, vegetation and wildlife. wild-life. "Additionally, OHV tracks can become ruts. These ruts concentrate concen-trate water flows, altering water quality and quantity and creating erosion. Some wildlife and special status wildlife species are sensitive to the presence of OHVs and may leave calving and fawning areas, roosts and nests, or other critical habitat. "Likewise, OHV's conflict with primitive recreation experiences by introducing the sights and sounds of civilization. For these reasons, cross-country motorized travel would be prohibited in accordance with 43CFR8340 Off-Road Vehicle regulations. Use on designated routes is provided however. To this end, OHV designations in the Monument would be either "closed" (in the Primitive Zone) or "limited to designated routes" (in the Frontcountry, Passage, and Outback Zones). "These designations are consistent consis-tent with standard BLM designations designa-tions provided for in BLM Manual 8340. As discussed in the Camping Camp-ing and Forestry Products sections in this chapter, vehicles may pull off of routes no more than 50 feet for parking -and camping in the Outback Zone, except where prohibited. pro-hibited. No off-highway vehicle (OHVATV) play areas would be designated in the Monument." "Bicycle use (including mountain moun-tain bikes and road bikes) was also carefully considered as part of the overall transportation system. Impacts Im-pacts from bicycles may be lower than OHVs due to ability of OHVs to travel over greater distances in a short period of time." "Use areas may also differ due to different ground surface requirements require-ments (e.g., sand often discourages mountain bike use, while it. can be desired by OHV users). However, impacts from the use of OHVs and bicycles are similar." "Mountain bike travel can cause damage to resources sensitive to surface disturbance, particularly biological soil crusts, special status plant species, and other vegetation. Additionally, bicycle tracks can also become ruts. These ruts, like those of OHVs, can concentrate water flows, altering water quality and quantity and creating erosion. Therefore, use of bicycles is also limited to designated routes and cross-country travel is not allowed. "This Plan would designate the route system for the Monument, subject to valid existing rights. Although the BLM had not originally origi-nally planned to make access decisions deci-sions in the Monument Management Manage-ment Plan, the agency was persuaded, per-suaded, as a result of widespread requests in the scoping process and further examination, that proper management of the Monument would be enhanced by making decisions deci-sions on access and transportation routes in the Plan. The transportation transporta-tion map (Map 2.1) shows routes that would be open for public use and those available for administrative administra-tive use only." "The specific routes shown open for public use are based on a variety of considerations including what is needed to protect Monument resources, re-sources, implement the planning decisions, and provide for the transportation trans-portation needs of surrounding communities. The basic philosophy philoso-phy in determining which routes would be open was to determine which routes access some destination destina-tion (e.g., scenic overlook, popular camping site, heavily used thoroughfare) thor-oughfare) and present no significant threat to Monument resources." "These routes would be open for public use. Routes that were not considered necessary or desirable (for resource protection purposes) would not be kept open for public access. The DEIS presented a range of transportation alternatives, and public comments on those transportation transpor-tation options were considered in crafting this transportation plan." "As part of developing an access system for this Plan, the BLM sought to reach an agreement with Kane and Garfield Counties resolving resolv-ing the many issues surrounding rights-of-way and access in the Monument. At the time this Plan was sent to the printer, negotiations had not reached a conclusion. Comments from the Counties were considered in this Plan, however." "Street legal motorized vehicles, including four-wheel-drive and mechanized vehicles (including bicycles), bi-cycles), would be allowed on 888 miles of routes designated open in the Frontcountry, Passage, and Outback Zones (Map 2.1) In order to display all open routes, this mileage number includes sections of Highways 12 and 89 within the Monument, even though they are not administered by the BLM. No routes would designated open in the Primitive Zone." "Non-street legal all-terrain vehicles ve-hicles (ATVs) and dirt bikes would be restricted to those routes designated desig-nated as open to their use. Non-street Non-street legal ATVs and dirt bikes would be allowed on 543 miles of the 888 miles of routes designated open to street legal vehicles in the Frontcountry, Passage, and Outback Zones; no routes would be designated desig-nated open to them in the Primitive Zone. All zones would allow hikers, hik-ers, horses, and pack animals, except ex-cept where noted elsewhere to protect pro-tect resources." There will be more coverage of the Monument PMPFEIS in next week's issue. Several comments and responses received from individuals, organizations, organiza-tions, and governmental agencies during the comment period for the Draft Management PlanDraft Environmental Envi-ronmental Impact Statement released re-leased in November 1998 are included in-cluded in the final document along with the BLM's response to the comment. We include a few specifically speci-fically relating to OHVATV and bicycle access: "COMMENT: An array of comments were submitted on all-terrain-vehicles (ATV) use ranging from "prohibit all non-stfeet legal ATV and dirt bike use" to "allow non-street legal vehicles," and "clarify the difference between street legal and non-street legal vehicles." RESPONSE: Any motor vehicle veh-icle properly registered for highway use is considered street legal. In Utah, ATV's cannot get safety inspections, so they cannot be registered for highway use. ATV's are considered an all terrain vehicle type 1, which is a motor vehicle 50 inches in width or smaller, weighing weigh-ing 700 pounds or less, having 3 or more low pressure tires, having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator, and designed for travel over unimproved terrain. "The management of ATV's is described in detail in the Transportation Transpor-tation and Access section in Chapter Chap-ter 2 of this Plan. Because use of ATV's off designated routes has the potential to damage Monument resources, their use off of designated routes would be prohibited throughout through-out the Monument. Specific routes which could be used by non-street legal vehicles are shown on Map 2.1. "COMMENT: An array of comments were submitted on ATV use, ranging from "ATV's should be banned or limited to smaller areas" to "ATV's should be allowed on more routes." "RESPONSE: As stated in the Transportation and Access Section in Chapter 2 of this Plan, the unregulated use of off-highway vehicles (OHV) (both street legal and non-street legal) off of designated routes has the potential to damage Monument resources, cause recreation conflicts, and cause erosion. Therefore, cross-country travel by motorized vehicles, as well as mountain bicycles, would be prohibited. The use of ATV's has been allowed on most routes designated for motorized vehicles, except those where state or local laws prohibit their use, where the anticipated volume and speed of larger vehicles makes ATV use unsafe, or where conflicts with adjacent land management agencies may occur. "COMMENT: By concentrating concen-trating OHV use in a particular area, the BLM is also concentrating damage to the natural resources in that area. "RESPONSE: As stated in the Transportation and Access section in Chapter 2 of this Plan, OHV use would be limited to designated routes; no cross-country travel would be permitted. As a general approach, limiting OHV use to select regularly used routes minimizes the impacts to ' the region as a whole, and to identified sensitive resources in particular. "Limiting OHV use to designated desig-nated routes concentrates impacts on routes which have already have vehicular use. There is also an advantage ad-vantage in limiting OHV use on certain routes, in that it can be better managed and widespread impacts can be avoided. "COMMENT: Explain what is meant by no cross-country travel, and why proposals for cross-country vehicle use for certain areas and purposes will .not be considered. Justification for prohibiting crosscountry cross-country vehicle travel is not adequate. Adaptive management should be used for the management of OHV's as proposed for other vehicles. "RESPONSE: Impacts from, OHV use are evident on the ground in many places within the Monu- ment. (See the Transportation and Access section in Chapter 2 for a discussion of OHV and bicycle impacts.) In instances where the authorized officer determines that OHV impacts would occur in the future if not curbed, limitations or closures are allowed as provided in the 43 CFR 8340 Off-Road Vehicles Vehi-cles regulations. "Monitoring and adaptive management man-agement would be used to ensure that OHV use on designated routes continues to be compatible with resource protection objectives in the Approved Plan." "COMMENT: The DEIS alternatives alter-natives do not adequately plan for current and future OHV recreation in the Monument, as required by law. The alternatives should go through a process to designate open, restricted, and closed areas for OHV's. "RESPONSE: As described in the Transportation and Access section in Chapter 2 of this Plan, OHV designations of "closed" or "Limited to designated routes" would be made in this Plan. These designations are based on resource conflicts and patterns of use, among other issues, and are consistent with BLM-wide OHV designations as provided for in 43 CFR 8340 Off-Road Off-Road Vehicle regulations and the BLM Manual. The BLM is not required to provide for all categories of designations. "COMMENT: What is the BLM's authority to close OHV trails and cross-country OHV travel without a specific project document? docu-ment? RESPONSE: The BLM has the authority to make OHV designations designa-tions in all planning processes. In the Monument, the designations are either "closed" or "limited to designated des-ignated routes" as discussed in the transportation and Access section in Chapter 2 of this Plan. These designations des-ignations are consistent with standard BLM designations provided for in 43 CFR 8340 Off-Road Vehicle regulations and the BLM Manual. The environmental analysis anal-ysis associated with this Plan serves as the NEPA document for this decision." i |