Elko Daily Free Press 6-11-10

USFS extends road plan comments

ELKO - Elko County is getting the six-month extension it sought for comments on the draft Travel Management Plan study for the Mountain City, Ruby Mountains and Jarbidge ranger districts.

Mountain City District Ranger Tom Montoya told Elko County commissioners Thursday he and Ruby Mountains and Jarbidge Ranger Gar Abbas are granting the extension.

Montoya confirmed the decision Thursday night.

The comment deadline on the draft environmental impact statement had been June 21.

"It's very, very exciting. It gives us the opportunity to get those things we worked to hard to get," Elko County Commission Chairman Charlie Myers said Thursday evening.

He was talking about county concerns regarding dispersed parking, camping, game retrieval and getting roads marked to show they are closed.

Myers said the extension comes with the condition that a county committee and the Forest Service work together "and take everybody's ideas and concerns under consideration."

Commissioners also voted Thursday to accept 14 pages of comments on the draft EIS that Elko County Planner Randy Brown wrote and pass them along to the U.S. Forest Service.

Commissioners additionally voted to work with the Forest Service to possibly bring in facilitators to research the biological effects of the Travel Management Plan.

Attorney Grant Gerber said Elko County is in a unique position in fighting the Travel Management Plan before it's approved. Other counties are going through appeal processes after the fact, he said.

"I'm pleased that you've stuck to your guns to get the six-month extension," he said.

Montoya's announcement on the extension came on the same day that U.S. Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., asked U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell to extend the comment period.

"I am writing to address concerns my constituents have expressed regarding the Forest Service's draft environmental impact statement for the TMP (Travel Management Plan)," Heller wrote.

Elko County Commissioners requested the six-month extension last month, and Gov. Jim Gibbons wrote a letter earlier supporting the county's request for more time to review and comment on the draft EIS.

The Travel Management Plan details what roads and trails will remain open in the three districts.

Heller wrote that the decision to close roads in Nevada "has the potential to create serious conflict - especially if impacted communities have not had their concerns adequately addressed. Given that, it is important that any decisions to close roads be made in a very open, straightforward and transparent process."

The congressman also states in the letter to Tidwell that he is particularly concerned that the Travel Management Plan deems roads closed unless they are posted open.

"This is in direct contravention to Nevada state law and, as such, has the potential to cause confusion among public lands users in Nevada," Heller wrote.