BRC Action Alerts

"I'm mad as hell about this and I don't intend to let the FS get away with it."

-Brian Hawthorne, Public Lands Director, BlueRibbon Coalition commenting on the Logan Canyon - Tony Grove/Franklin Basin Winter Recreation Project.

Dear Friends,

I've been involved in a bunch planning projects over the years. Trust me, I have seen more than my share of bias and disregard for the rights and privileges of OHV people.

But until now, I have never seen an office of the U.S. Forest Service completely and totally ignore the legitimate concerns of motorized users in a planning process.

I'm speaking about the Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Tony Grove - Franklin Basin Winter Recreation Project.

To make a long story short, the Wasatch Cache National Forest was forced into yet more "analysis" of the winter recreation plan via a lawsuit filed by a bunch of anti-snowmobiling activist groups led by the Winter Wildlands Alliance  http://www.winterwildlands.org)

BRC and other snowmobile groups were involved in the lawsuit. We agreed to the additional "analysis" because we thought the Forest Service would weigh the concerns of each group fairly.

We were wrong!

In the early stages of the process, the snowmobile community raised Planning Issues via written comments.

We raised 5 significant issues:
Snowmobile opportunity
Snowmobile access and egress from trailheads
Snowmobiler safety
Concerns regarding boundaries
Design for over-the-snow connecting trail

The comments were very well written. Issues were identified succinctly, yet with sufficient detail and supporting information. In addition, local snowmobilers identified several important flaws in the agency's planning data.

Virtually none of our issues or our information was considered by the Forest Service!

Instead, the agency adopted nearly all of the Issues proposed by the anti-snowmobile crowd. All of the important decision making criteria are now oriented toward closing areas to motorized use.

The EA states:
  "Two issues, "skier experience" and "safety" drove development of the alternatives" and safety is reduced to "concern about collisions between skiers and snowmobiles" which has a skier-preferred solution of "separation-of-use."

Snowmobiler experience and safety that have been brought up numerous times were either downplayed or ignored. Is that biased or what?

Brief run-down of the Alternatives in the EA:
Alternative 1:  Will work with a few modifications. It mirrors a compromise agreement formulated by the snowmobile community and adopted by the Forest Service last year.

Alternative 2: Is called a "temporal alternative" where the area would be closed to non-motorized skiers for two weeks and then closed to snowmobilers for two weeks.

Alternative 3: This is the 2003 Forest Plan decision that included unmanageable boundaries and included safety problems for snowmobilers. This alternative resulted in numerous challenges and controversy.

Alternative 4:  This alternative is total closure for everyone. Wanna bet they never get around to closing it to non-motorized folks on this or alternative 2?

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Please help us by submitting comments on the Logan Canyon winter plan today. I've included comment instructions and suggestions below.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please contact me at the number below.

Brian Hawthorne
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102

PS: I want to express my sincere gratitude to Garth Barker and the folks at the Top of Utah Snowmobile Club and Curt Kennedy and the Utah Snowmobile Association. Their participation in the planning process has been commendable. The way the FS has disregarded their input is an outrage. Learn more about both of these groups at: http://www.snowut.com/

BRC LOGAN CANYON - TONY GROVE/FRANKLIN BASIN ACTION ITEM:
Please send an email to the Wasatch Cache National Forest today. We've included some talking points you can use below.

The comment deadline is October 30, 2006. Please send your email today and then forward this email to friends and family.

The preliminary Environmental Assessment including the proposed action, alternatives, and environmental effects is available on the Forest website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/wcnf/projects/proposed/index.shtml(scroll down to "Logan Ranger District - Proposed Projects")

The email address is:
comments-intermtn-wasatch-cache-logan@fs.fed.us.

Put: "Comments on Tony Grove - Franklin Basin Winter Recreation Project " in the subject line in your email.

Address your email to:
Faye Krueger, Forest Supervisor
Wasatch Cache National Forest
8236 Federal Building
125 S. State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84138

COMMENT SUGGESTIONS:

It's a good idea to include a brief paragraph telling the FS just a bit about how much you and your family enjoy snowmobiling. Be sure to mention it if you've visited Logan Canyon before. Include a bit about how important the unique and challenging terrain of the Tony Grove -- Franklin Basin area is to you. Include your history of using that area, where you prefer to snowmobile, etc.

Tell the FS:
You object to the manner in which the FS totally ignored Issues raised by the snowmobile community.

Make sure the FS realizes:
The Tony Grove -- Franklin Basin area has unique high bowl terrain that is nationally recognized and draws snowmobile vacationers from all across the country.

Tell the FS that you support Alternative 1, with some changes:
Alternative 1 (Proposed Action) is a compromise that provides skiers with some good slopes and is preferred by snowmobilers because it provides adequate access to/from the high, unique terrain and connection between the trailheads.

The Hells Kitchen non-motorized area has been expanded in Alternative 1 to provide more area for skiers and boundaries that follow natural terrain features. The over-the-snow connector eliminates the need for snowmobilers to go through the middle of the Bunchgrass non-motorized area. The over-the-snow connector, along with signing and good travel maps, will clearly define a boundary north of White Pine Creek and corridor south of White Pine Creek to protect moose winter range.

However, some changes are needed to the Proposed Action: the boundary between the Tony Grove parking area and lower portion of the Tony Grove Road must be adjusted so snowmobiles can stay on snow. Alternative 3 shows the needed boundary adjustment north of the Tony Grove Road in this area.

It would be better to have the over-the-snow connector trail groomed full width all the way through. This would ensure regular grooming, a more clear dividing line north of White Pine Creek and corridor south of White Pine Creek, provide additional clearance between passing connector trail users, and simplify grooming by the State groomer.

The "temporal" alternative (Alternative 2) is unacceptable: Tell the FS:
I strongly oppose Alternative 2. Alternative 2 eliminates snowmobile use half the time in the unique high bowl terrain, which is a nationally recognized snowmobiling location. This area is too important to snowmobilers to close it half the time.

Manageability will be a problem, the area can be accessed from the Idaho side, and there's no clearly defined boundary on the ground at the Idaho-Utah border. The 2-week on/off scheme is a real problem for visiting snowmobilers, who may only have a few days in this area and have other scheduling constraints.

Also, the Logan Canyon snowmobile trailheads already regularly overflow on weekends, having these trailheads closed half-time will aggravate parking problems. It is documented that skiers barely use the Tony Grove/Frankly Basin area after mid-April, but there is very heavy snowmobile use of the area into late May and often June. In the later part of the season, Tony Grove is the only place snowmobilers can go on in Logan Canyon. To have it closed half-time when virtually no skiers are using the area is unfair and unrealistic.

We also need to oppose Alternative 3 in comments. Tell the FS:
Alternative 3 is unacceptable as well. This alternative is the basis of all the contention that's existed ever since the 2003 Forest Plan was signed.  This alternative has unmanageable boundaries, creates safety issues for snowmobilers, and eliminates some needed access/egress routes from/to the popular Tony Grove and Franklin Basin trailheads.

The FS needs to know hoe important this area is to snowmobilers. Tell the FS:
The Tony Grove -- Franklin Basin area has unique high bowl terrain that is nationally recognized. People come from all across the country to enjoy this unique terrain.

Object again to the bias in the EA. Tell the FS:
The EA states:  "Two issues, "skier experience" and "safety" drove development of the alternatives" and safety is reduced to "concern about collisions between skiers and snowmobiles" (apparently, there's no record of collisions actually occurring), which has a skier-preferred solution of "separation-of-use." Snowmobiler experience and safety that have been brought up numerous times were either downplayed or ignored.

Please consider some important Issues that were brought up during scoping, but were not included in the issues that "drove development of the alternatives."
- Any snowmobile related Med-Arb criteria/issues that had been overlooked
- Snowmobiler Safety (this is not simply "separation-of-use")
- Snowmobile Emergency Egress
- Snowmobile Dispersal
- Manageability and Easy to Understand Boundaries