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Travel Management Plan for the St. Joe Ranger District Under the 2005 Travel Management Rule, each national forest is to designate roads, trails, and areas that will be open to the public, identify the type of wheeled motorized vehicles that are allowed to use these routes, and publish this information on a Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM). Once the map is published, cross-country wheeled motorized vehicle use will be prohibited. Greetings from Chuck Mark, District Ranger of the St. Joe Ranger District:
Thank you for your contributions! I want to thank all of you who took the time and made the effort to help us develop the alternatives considered in the EA. I appreciate the contributions of the St. Joe Focus Group and the greater public who provided input over the last two years. Has the Forest Service already made a decision for travel management on the St. Joe? I want to emphasize that I have not made a decision yet. I will not do that until after I review all the comments on the EA. When will the Forest Service make a decision for travel management on the St. Joe? I will review all the comments submitted by the public during the 30-day comment period, and I expect to reach a decision in November 2009. How do you get a copy of the EA? If you are on the project mailing list you will receive a copy of the EA unless you told us not to send one to you. If you would like a copy of the EA or the much shorter summary of the EA please contact the St. Joe Ranger District at (208)245-2531 or send a message with your address to comments-northern-idpanhandle-stjoe@fs.fed.us. You can get the EA on a CD, printed on paper, or online (pdf -2mb). Where can you view the 18 maps for this project? We did not send the 18 maps that go with the EA except on CD because it is so expensive to print them. Your own personal copies of the maps are available on CDs, online, or printed at a very small scale on 11" X 17" sheets of paper. Call the St. Joe Ranger District if you would like maps on a CD or printed on 11" X 17" sheets of paper. Paper copies of the larger maps will be available for review at open-house meetings and are currently available for review at the following Forest Service offices:
Written comments must be postmarked by the Postal Service, e-mailed, faxed, or otherwise submitted by October 13, 2009. Hand delivered comments must be time and date imprinted at the St. Joe Ranger District office located in St. Maries, Idaho by the close of business October 13, 2009. The St. Maries office business hours are Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 4:00 p.m., excluding federal holidays. Oral comments must be provided at my office during normal business hours via telephone or in person. Electronic comments may be submitted to comments-northern-idpanhandle-stjoe@fs.fed.us. The subject line must contain the name of the project: St. Joe Travel Management EA. Acceptable formats are MS Word, Word Perfect, or RTF. For electronically mailed comments, the sender should normally receive an automated electronic acknowledgement from the agency as confirmation of receipt. If the sender does not receive an automated acknowledgement of the receipt of comments, it is the sender's responsibility to ensure timely receipt by other means. Why is it important to comment during the 30-day comment period? Your comments are important because they help ensure I have not missed something during the development and analysis of the alternatives. Commenting during the 30-day comment period is important to some people because it gives them standing for appeal. Any decision to proceed with actions described in the EA will be subject to administrative appeal by anyone who submits comments on the EA during the 30-day comment period. What will the Forest Service do with comments on the EA? The interdisciplinary team and I will review the public comments to determine if we need to develop another alternative or do additional environmental analysis. Thank you for taking the time to review and comment on the St. Joe Travel Management EA. --Chuck Mark, District Ranger
Top of the page Last updated: 10/02/09 |
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 Idaho Panhandle National Forests / USDA Forest Service |
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St. Joe Ranger District Travel Management Plan
