By Derek Padilla
Dolores District Ranger
The public is invited to the last of three stakeholder panel workshops on management of Rico-West Dolores roads and trails in the San Juan National Service at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 at the Dolores Community Center.
At our first workshop, panel members presented information about their trail use and experiences in the Rico-West Dolores area. We heard perspectives on hiking, hunting, fishing, grazing, mountain biking, motorcycle riding, horse riding and ATV riding. Staff from Rico, Montezuma and Dolores counties and Colorado Parks and Wildlife also offered presentations.
Between the first and second workshops, panel members and Forest Service staff gathered information that could serve as reference material in the upcoming National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis. Topics included social experiences, economics, big-game habitat, fish habitat, trail building, and trail maintenance. The list of topics was reviewed at the second workshop, with missing information identified and recorded.
At the upcoming workshop, my staff will report to the stakeholders and public on the environmental and social science information we have reviewed to date, and explain how that information will be used in the formal NEPA process.
The heart of the NEPA process is a comparison of alternative road and trail systems that provides me, the decision maker, the best understanding of trade-offs in courses of action. It is important to reflect issues raised by the public and to show how alternatives provide services while providing for the long-term well-being of natural resources.
Participants in planning efforts have asked that the Forest Service develop a decision protocol and communicate this process to participants early in the process. At the Sept. 11 workshop, I plan to describe decision criteria we will use in the analysis.
No specific road or trail proposals will be discussed at the final workshop. Those proposals will be forthcoming when the agency releases a 'Proposed Action' for public comment this fall.
In addition, after the Sept. 11 workshop No. 3, stakeholders will no longer operate as a panel, although they and anyone else interested in management of Rico-West Dolores roads and trails are encouraged to comment on the Proposed Action, when released. Comments received at that time, in addition to staff work by Forest Service staff, will be incorporated into the analysis based on the criteria used to develop the alternatives.
The planning process takes time, so there will be no changes this year to the current status of roads and trails. We do not anticipate implementation of any road or trail changes until the fall of 2015.
Please feel free to call us at the Dolores Public Lands Office at 970-882-7296 for clarification on any of the above information. Just tell our front desk staff you are interested in the Rico-West Dolores project.
Derek Padilla is San Juan National Forest Dolores District Ranger.