National Forest Route Designation Plan:

Be Aware of What is Happening in Your Forest

By Bruce Whitcher, CORVA Field Rep.

You may have heard that all the National Forests are in the process of implementing the "Route Designation Plan".  This was mandated by Washington in response to the Chief Forester's identification of OHV use as one of the "four key threats" to National Forests. Our mission is to make sure this "plan" is applied in a fair and equitable way.

Most forests have a system of designated trails, but also many "user created" trails that date from the time forests allowed cross country travel by OHV's.  Yes, this was completely legal at one time, but of course that is no longer the case.  As a result the forests in Region 5 were given OHV grant money to conduct an inventory of all OHV trails in National forests. The concept is to develop a manageable OHV trail system including both designated and user created trails and to keep it from expanding by designating a final trail system once and for all. Once this is done operating an OHV off designated trails is subject to a fine of up to $5000 and/or 6 months in jail!

In order to designate a trail system they developed a multi step plan that involves the NEPA process.  NEPA stands for “National Environmental Policy Act of 1970”  NEPA is a regulatory process for federal agency decision making on actions that “significantly affect the human environment”. They have decided to review all trails using criteria for resource damage, rights of way, and conformity to the Forest Plans. Under NEPA the Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that gives all the details of how they arrive at their decision on which trails get to stay open and why.

The Region 5 Forests have now completed an inventory and have evaluated all trails, but because this is a very big undertaking and they have limited resources in many cases they haven't done a very good job.  Their identification of resource damage is often completely subjective, in many cases carried out using less than careful techniques. We understand that damage to the environment by OHV’s is a valid concern and that resource damage must be managed, but in the proper fashion using sound science. Under NEPA good science must be used when evaluating OHV trails or it is a violation of the process.

One of the really great things about the NEPA process is that it requires public involvement.  When correctly applied this process is open and transparent, but you have to understand the rules to participate.  If you look at the attached flow chart you can see the times when public input can be given. (This chart is from El Dorado NF, the dates are limited to that forest.) If you fail to comment at the proper time or in the proper way you may fail to have your comments accepted and lose the right to appeal the final decision by the agency. So go to the public meetings and be sure to learn the rules so you can be effective.

Most of us use OHV’s on National Forest and BLM land.  These are the last great trail riding areas.  They offer great trail systems on huge tracts of land that can’t begin to compare to the SVRA’s. So be aware of what is happening in your Forest.  The Trail Designation Process is gaining momentum, and we will very likely lose many of our best trails unless we get involved.