The Shoshone National Forest recently released a portion of its proposed draft forest management plan for informal public review through February 2, 2012. Documents can be viewed on the forest’s website at www.fs.fed.us/nepa/project_content.php?project=6719 Maps showing proposed management areas are also available. The most pertinent maps for snowmobiling areas include: Maps A and B – Beartooth Mountains area, Maps F and G – Dubois/Brooks Lake areas, and Map H – Lander/South Pas areas.
This draft plan shows what the Forest Service is intending to propose at its Proposed Action in respect to management prescriptions for all areas of the Shoshone Forest and is currently open for what is being called an ‘informal public review.’ This means they are throwing out a trial balloon before releasing a full draft plan in the form of an EIS early this summer. It is anticipated that the formal EIS will be released for a formal, 90-day comment period in June. The good news is that, as it stands now, the Forest Service is NOT proposing to close any existing areas to continued snowmobiling use. But snowmobiling will continue to be a target until the planning process is done and completely over.
WSSA through the ACCESS WYOMING Program has been working on this plan since 2005 when the Shoshone Forest initially started work on its revision. Over the past six and a half years the Forest has had several starts and stops in its process, but it looks like we finally may be nearing completion over the next year. We have attended numerous meetings and submitted several comments on behalf of snowmobilers throughout this process and believe the draft plan continues to treat snowmobiling fairly.
Numerous groups including the Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA) and the Togwotee Pass Backcountry Alliance (TPBA) have tried to have certain areas around Togwotee Pass and Brooks Lake closed to snowmobiling through this planning process. The draft proposed management plan does not appear to bow to these efforts – yet. Since this latest proposed plan still does not close any existing snowmobiling areas to our continued riding, you can bet WWA and TPBA will double their efforts and make a concerted push to get the Forest Service to change this position. You need to get involved in this informal comment period to help ensure the Forest Service knows closing any areas to snowmobiling is unacceptable.
The Shoshone National Forest is hosting four public meetings to answer questions about the proposed draft plan. All meetings will run from 5:00 to 7:00 PM and will be held as follows:
January 17: Dubois, Headwaters Center
January 18: Lander, Pronghorn Lodge
January 19: Thermopolis, Days Inn
January 23: Cody, Big Horn Federal
Comments on this internal review are due by February 2, 2012 and can be e-mailed to Shoshone_forestplan@fs.fed.us or mailed to Forest Plan Revision, 808 Meadow Lane Avenue, Cody, WY 82414. For more information, contact Forest Planner Carrie Christman at 307-578-5118.
Snowmobilers need to participate by attending these meetings and by sending e-mails telling the Forest that you support how the draft plan treats snowmobiling and that keeping all existing areas open to snowmobiling is important to you. If you have any questions, also feel free to contact me at Trailswork@aol.com .