Forest Service proposes bringing commercial recreation to Mount Elden/Dry Lake Hills
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Shortly after approving the Mt Elden/Dry Lake Hills (MEDL) Recreation Plan, which authorized 110 miles of trails in the small MEDL area, the Coconino National Forest is now proposing to begin allowing commercial outfitter/guide services for hiking, bird watching, mountain biking, bike packing, rock climbing, and guided motorized tours.
The Forest Service decided the area could handle 65,700 user service days (one “service day” is equal to one customer spending one day in the area) and wants to allow 6,000 service days to start. The Forest Service plans to allow this with a categorical exclusion, an abbreviated process that doesn’t require an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Forest Service does not say if they are willing to eventually approve the full 65,700 service days in this same way.
The Coconino National Forest admitted in its MEDL Recreation Plan Environmental Assessment that allowing commercial guiding would “increase the number of people using trails in the project area,” and that the increased use would disturb threatened Mexican spotted owls and other sensitive species such as peregrine falcons, northern goshawks, and their prey. MEDL is also within the San Francisco Peaks Traditional Cultural Propert y , a vital place for 13 officially affiliated Tribes. The MEDL Recreation Plan itself was a response to overcrowding and forest users are outraged. At the time of this writing, there are 97 comment letters posted on the Forest Service website (Sierra Club’s letter is not yet posted), most opposing the potential for commercial use of an already overcrowded forest and the introduction of motorized tours.
Scoping comments were “most useful by” January 22nd, but it’s not too late to get on record. Read the scoping notice and then email your comments to comments-southwestern-coconino@usda.gov and include Flagstaff Outfitter and Guide Project in your comment. |
Changes are coming to fire restrictions in Coconino National Forest
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We are happy to see that the Coconino National Forest is listening to the public and changing some fire restrictions on the Flagstaff District. The Forest Service proposes expanding the areas where year-round fire and camping restrictions will be enforced, and closing several areas to motorized vehicles during Stage 2 fire restrictions - while keeping those same lands open to people on foot or bike. The Forest Service is realizing that, “about 98% of our fires start within a stone’s throw of a motor vehicle.”
We are very supportive of these changes as a first step toward preventing human-caused fires that threaten the forest and nearby neighborhoods. We also realize this is a complicated issue: the City and Forest Service are trying to figure out how to better take care of people who have been priced out of Flagstaff housing and are now living in the forest. We hope that these targeted restrictions will balance human safety with forest protection. Learn more here and read an Arizona Daily Sun article about the restrictions here.
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Interested in volunteering to work on forest protection?
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Along with the two items discussed above, this is a critical time to engage in protecting northern Arizona’s national forests. The Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) is now being implemented across 2.4 million acres, and new projects are being planned to cut trees on the North Kaibab District of the Kaibab National Forest, north of Grand Canyon. Widespread drought mortality of pinyon and juniper trees is not stopping land managers from moving forward on projects that would clear swaths of trees in the isolated places where they are surviving.
We need volunteers to help attend Forest Service and stakeholder meetings, review project drafts and environmental assessments, and help draft comments on proposed forest treatments. If you are interested in protecting old growth and forest wildlife, please contact Alicyn Gitlin at alicyn.gitlin@sierraclub.org. Thank you!
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