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Post Office Box 506 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 | 831-423-3191 www.ventanawild.org vwa@ventanawild.org |
Ronald L. Pugh, Program Leader
Southern California Forest Plan Revisions
10845 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92127
RE: Forest Plan Revision
Monterey Ranger District, LPNF
Southern California Forest Plan Revisions
Dear Ron,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the land use zones presented at the Open House in Salinas on March 20. It was great to have an opportunity to meet with you there and discuss some of the issues regarding the forest plan revision.
We feel that wilderness designation of the remaining roadless areas in the Monterey Ranger District should be included in Alternative 6. The boundaries for this alternative (based on the Conservation Alternative submitted by a number of conservation groups, including the VWA) are based on the boundaries of the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002.
The Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act, encompassed much of the remaining roadless land within the MRD which were not already designated as Wilderness; however, the Act did not include all roadless areas within this portion of the National Forest. There are additional roadless areas which may be suitable for wilderness designation, which may not have been included in the recent Act for political expediency or other reasons besides their unsuitablility as wilderness. As the most conservation-oriented Alternative, Alternative 6 should include all remaining roadless areas for consideration as Wilderness. Some of these areas, including areas near Chews Ridge, Anastasia Canyon and Piney Creek, were included as Wilderness in Alternative 2 (it was not clear why these designations were not also included in Alternative 3, which is ostensibly a more stringently conservational Alternative). At minimum, these lands should also be included in Alternative 6. Other lands which have been listed as roadless areas that should be included in Alternative 6 include areas on Skinner's Ridge and around the South Fork of the Little Sur River. Although we recognize that not all remaining roadless areas may be recommended for Wilderness designation, we feel that the Forest Service should consider all of these areas.
The maps that we have seen, presented at the Open House in Salinas, were not in their final form, so we cannot make informed comments on the specific boundaries, especially for Alternative 3. When we asked about some of the peculiarities in the land use zone boundaries, we were told that they were mapping glitches that would be cleared up. In light of this omission, and the resulting fact that neither the VWA nor in fact any member of the public has seen the final maps, we urge that the final maps for all six Alternatives be made publicly available on the LPNF web site before the publication of the DEIS.
Our understanding is that the intent of Alternative 3 is to designate lands within ¼ mile of existing roads as Backcountry Motorized. We would urge that the offset be decreased (to 100-200 feet) except in cases where a larger offset is specifically required and justified.
We appreciate your attention to our concerns at this stage in the planning process. We would be pleased to discuss with you any of the issues we have brought up here, and look forward to participating in the Forest Plan Revision process as it goes forward.
Sincerely,
Ventana Wilderness Alliance
Kelsey Jordahl, VWA Board of Directors
