TRAVEL MANAGEMENT II

Travel Management, Part 2 has been placed on hold. It's time to look over the maps listed below and identify which of the 68 miles of trails that we want to propose to be put back on the MVUM for OHV use.

Travel Management

Decision

The Sierra National Forest has released its Record of Decision and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Travel Management. In summary, the decision will close the Forest to cross country travel, add unauthorized routes and make changes to the existing Motorized National Forest Transportation System (roads, trails and areas).

Background

Currently, there are 2,530 miles of road and trails on the Sierra National Forest. There are also 660,000 acres (over 100 square miles) open to cross-country motorized travel. In 2005, the forest began Travel Management by completing an inventory and identifying 550 miles of unauthorized (user created) routes. In 2007, the forest released its notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact statement for Travel Management. During scoping, the public was asked to identify which of the 550 miles of unauthorized routes they felt were important to add or not add to the designated system. In 2009, based on public scoping, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released for public review that displayed a range of alternatives from no action to maximizing recreation opportunities. In May 2010, the forest released the final decision for travel management.

The Travel Management Rule of 2005 directs the Forest Service to evaluate its general road system (Subpart A), halt all cross country motorized use (Subpart B) and improve the management of Over Snow Vehicles (Subpart C).

Below are links to better explain to the various travel projects the Sierra NF is working on at this time. If you have any general questions, please contact Tom Lowe, Assistant Forest Engineer at tlowe@fs.fed.us... This person is now:

Pacific Southwest Region (R5) Overview

This link connects to the Region Five Travel Management webpage with a discussion of the Travel Management Rule and links to other useful information, as well as a video clip of Deputy Region Forester, Ron Ketter, explaining the importance of Travel Management.

Sierra National Forest Travel Management Processes