The Colville National Forest has announced that the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed South End Motor Vehicle Management project is now available for public review and comment during a 30-day public comment period.
The Forest Service is conducting this environmental assessment to analyze options for managing and directing motorized recreation within the south central part of the Colville National Forest, between the Pend Oreille and Colville Rivers.
This project will review and possibly revise the Motor Vehicle Use Map for this area, including vehicle access for dispersed recreation. The project goals include: designating an expanded system of routes for motor vehicle use (including off-highway vehicles), providing for public safety, protecting natural resources, rehabilitating existing resource impacts from motor vehicle use, and minimizing user conflicts. The project will also review and address impacts from dispersed camping associated with motor vehicle use.
The environmental assessment is available on the Colville National Forest website at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/colville/pr...pa/. Copies are also available on compact disc or paper format at each of the Colville National Forest offices.
Comment concerning this project may be submitted by facsimile, hand delivered or via email. All comments will be accepted during the 30-day public comment period, which ends on June 24, 2011.
Please submit specific written comments related to the South End project to:
Newport Ranger District
315 North Warren, Newport, WA 99156
Project team leader, Nancy Glines
Acting District Ranger, Travis Fletcher
(509)447-7300; fax (509)447-7301
Three Rivers Ranger District
255 West 11th Kettle Falls, WA 99141
District Ranger, Rodney Smoldon
(509)738-7700; fax (509)738-7780
Colville National Forest Headquarters
765 South Main, Colville, WA 99114
Forest Supervisor, Laura Jo West
(509)684-7000; toll free: (877)727-8704; fax: (509)684-7280
The business hours for submitting hand delivered comments are 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Electronic comments should be submitted in a format such as an email message, hypertext markup language (.html), portable document format (.pdf), or Word (.doc) to
comments-pacificnorthwest-colville-newport@fs.fed.us.
To be considered, comments must be submitted by the close of the comment period, and must include the senders name and address, title of the proposed action being commented on, and specific comments on the proposed action, along with supporting reasons that the Responsible Official should consider in reaching a decision. It is the responsibility of the sender to verify that electronically submitted comments have been received.
For more information on the South End project, or on how to submit a comment, please contact Nancy Glines, Team Leader, at (509)447-7360.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107