Coronado National Forest

Travel Management

September 2009

We have encountered some delays in implementing the 2005 Travel Management Rule but we are still working on producing Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs) which will designate roads, trails and areas open for motor vehicle use on each Ranger District. 

The Forest Service’s final travel management rule (TMR) of November 9, 2005, revised regulations in 36 CFR, parts 212, 251, 261, and 295 to require designation of roads, trails, and areas for motor vehicle use on each national forest.  

• Designation will include class of vehicle and, if appropriate, time of year. A given route, for example, could be designated for use by motorcycles, ATVs, or street-legal vehicles.
• Once designation is complete, the rule will prohibit motor vehicle use off the designated system or inconsistent with the designations.
• Designation decisions will be made locally, with public input and in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments.

One of the main purposes of the TMR was to ban the use of motor-vehicles for driving cross-country off existing roads and motorized trails.  The Coronado National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), as amended, already prohibits cross-country motorized travel.  Therefore, this will not be a big change on the Coronado.  What will change is the publics’ ability to use the many unauthorized roads that have developed outside of the official road system.  Once the MVUMs are produced these roads will be off limits unless they have been found to be necessary additions to the National Forest Road System through a Transportation Analysis Proces.  This process is ongoing on the forest and once it is completed for each district we will update the designated road system with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and produce MUVMs for free distribution to the public. 

Travel Management NEPA is in progress for the Santa Catalina Ranger District and we expect to have an Environmental Assessment available for public comment in October.  We are working towards having the Nogales Ranger District’s Proposed Action for Travel Management available for public scoping and comment in September or early October.  The Safford, Douglas and Sierra Vista Ranger Districts’ transportation analyses are being revised and this will push the NEPA process for these districts into 2010. 

For more information, to provide comments, or to get on the mailing list to receive NEPA documents for review and comment contact Laura White, Travel Management Project Leader, 300 W. Congress, Tucson, AZ  85701, Phone: 520-388-8419, travel_management@fs.fed.us.