http://www.bcstandard.com/news/2007/1114/Front_Page/001.htmlFound this article in a local newspaper in the Jacksonville area.
Isn't the Sierra Club the same organization that did the study for the trails at Ocala National Forest?
If you don't want to click on the link here is the copied article....
Visit Cobb Camp in Osceola National Forest during a cold November morning and you'll find most hunters stirring about before daybreak. Their guns are loaded, their gear fastened to their vehicles, and they're ready to go. The roar of engines and the sounds of dogs echo through the forest as they travel any one of the 1053 miles of roads available.
That 'availability' may be in jeopardy. Local hunters are facing the reality that more than half of the roadways and passages they use when traveling to hunting points may be closed due to some new regulations following a two-year analysis of the forest's designated road system.
There is controversy surrounding the closing of 563 miles of roadways and it has been building for sometime,
Local hunting groups, hunters, and ATV groups are planning to appeal the decision within the next 45 days to the state forestry supervisor, saying the roadways are necessary for their recreational use. Forestry officials are saying they need to balance recreation use with protection of sensitive resources. And the county may be joining in on the fight citing a possibility of major loss in revenue to local businesses if hunting is curtailed.
"We know what we need, and they don't," said Doyle Spradley, President of the Local Dog Hunters and Sportsman's Association. The comment referred to the U.S. Department of Forestry and what he says is their unwillingness to compromise. "The new roads will not allow us to control dogs, keep up with our dogs, or hear our dogs."
The local organization will be working with their state organization to fight what they call a violation of right to use government land. The decision they claim has not addressed all concerns. With hunting season already in full swing, hunters claim they need more time to familiarize with the area after forest fires in the area this summer prevented them from familiarizing themselves with the new roads.
The popularity of off-highway vehicles, ATVs, and 4-wheel drives has led to an increase in travel through the forest in the last decade. Skid trails, old logging roads, and fire lines have been added to the network of roads in the forest during this time. Forestry officials say this is the very problem; vehicle Two arrested travel is endangering wildlife and the overall ecosystem of the forest. While there is no major environmental problem as of yet, the forestry department is taking pro-active steps to correct the problem nationally.
"The decision falls somewhere in the middle, achieving a level of balance for all visitorsthose seeking motorized opportunities and those seeking more passive, solitude- while also ensuring the ecological diversity of the Osceola is sustained for future generations," says Ivan Green, District Ranger for the forest.
Forestry officials like Green organized "open house" sessions to answer any questions. "I want to clarify that this road system will require as much as a year to fully implement."
A major environmental friendly organization known as the Sierra Club shares the same feelings, in order to protect and restore significant habitat, more areas need to made wilderness and less road dense. The Sierra Club believes the forest needs road density goals of less than onemile roadway per square mile. However, while roads will be closed to visitors, government and researcher will still be able to travel.
"If you close any road in the forest, it should be closed to everyone including timbering, researchers, and government vehicles and not just the people that love and enjoy our National Forest Lands," stated a respondent at the "open house" session. The Forest Service is required to manage National Forest System Lands. Management activities such as controlling wildfires and harvesting timber are needed to maintain a healthy forest.
So what does this mean to residents using the forest?
The road that leads to your favorite fishing hole, temporary closed to a mapping project will stay closed. Chinkini Bend, Saul's Hole, One-man Cemetery, New Hole, and Latter Bridge will no longer be accessible.
No new roads will be formed, and 43 miles will be closed to motorized recreation and bicycles that pass through swamp and floodplain soils. The elimination of 30 stream crossings, 200 miles of main forest roadways, and the major decision affecting the hunters, is the closing of 362 miles of unclassified roads such as old logging roads and sandy dirt trails.
"I think it's a shame Baker County is made up of 52 percent of national forest, with no new timber fees supporting it, but in turn they rely on our support. Citizens are paying a higher tax, and how unfair is it that they can't use it? Less accessibility to the forest means less tax revenue from local businesses," said Commissioner Julie Combs.
Combs addressed the closure concerns before the commission last week, and some shared the same sentiment. A letter of addressing these concerns is being prepared by County Attorney Terry Brown and will be signed off by Commission Chair Mark Hartley before being sent to the Department of Forestry.
