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Sequoia National Forest Trail Inventory and Trail
Plan Updated
2/19/10 |
Stewards of the Sequoia Appeal Sequoia
Travel Plan
Stewards filed a legal appeal on
behalf of the community regarding aspects of the Travel Plan
that we find have violated law, regulation or policy. For
example we object to the Snow closure of 181 miles of routes
from 12/31-4/15 each year when the weather varies too much to
predict when there will be snow. You can read the appeal filed
by Stewards
here.
Over a short 14 day period Stewards
recently gathered almost 500 letters from the public, businesses
and organizations supporting our appeal. We have delivered these
letters to decision makers and legislators.
We are very pleased to see that due
to those letters and efforts by Stewards of the Sequoia,
Congressman McCarthy has sent a letter to the Sequoia
National Forest Supervisor and Regional Forester urging them to
reconsider this "unprecedented" closure decision and allow
continued access on all trails unless there is a valid reason to
close them due to actual snow conditions, as well as continued
vehicular lakeside access.
Below is a short overview of some of
the problems we have identified and included in our appeal of
the plan:
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The revised FEIS plan still
proposes fixed date based seasonal closures to close many
trails from 11/15 to 5/15. Stewards finds there is no
justification for these fixed date closures and we have
submitted comments proving it.
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The Plan wants to close one of
the trails adopted by motorized volunteers in order to let
hikers have exclusive use of it, even though the hikers have
never helped to maintain the trail. Stewards are filing an
objection to this.
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The 16 Recreation Areas around
Lake Isabella need to be extended down to low water. This is
especially important as the Lake level will be unusually low
over at least the next decade due to the Corp Dam Project.
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Stewards of the Sequoia have
spent hundreds of hours reading, researching and drafting a
substantive comment letter to request changes in the
Proposed Plan to ensure that there is no language in the
Plan which will come back to haunt us later.
However Stewards are happy to report our
efforts of the past five years are paying off. The 1200 page
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Route
Designation Plan determining where you will be allowed access in
the Greenhorn, Breckenridge and Lake Isabella areas in the
Sequoia National Forest released in October
responds to many Stewards comments and the resulting trail plan,
excluding the points we are appealing, is looking very hopeful. For example:
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A number of trails which we
pointed out had been omitted have been added back
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The shoreline around Lake
Isabella will remain open to continued lakeside camping, but
not down to low water levels
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Cyrus Canyon OHV track is now
back on the map
Our efforts and substantive comments
have made a huge difference. On top of that I know that over 25%
of the trails would already have been closed if not for Stewards
of the Sequoia making substantive comments.
What is the big deal
about Stewards making a
substantive comment?
Read some of the comments Stewards has submitted on
behalf of our members and the community
Click Here
Don't get me wrong. This is
not a done deal. We need to continue to be involved or
everything we have worked so hard for could be lost.
What can you do now to help keep
your trails open?
- Unless you want to
spend hundreds of hours reading and commenting on
the 1200 page FEIS document, why not make a tax
deductible
donation
to help fund Stewards efforts to do that work
for you? Over 80% of our members have let their
membership donation expire or have not made a
donation. Although we are totally volunteer based
without donations we are dead in the water. While
economic times are hard, once the trails are closed
they will not be reopened.
- Attend meetings OR
donate the money you would have spent on gas and
time to attend the meetings, so we can represent you
and increase our efforts to keep your trails open.
Over the years many
people have told us there was no point in wasting time
attending meetings or submitting comments. They told us
the Forest Service will do what it wants and we the
public cannot do anything about it.
We are glad we ignored them because now it is clear they
were dead wrong.
Thanks for your support. Together we can help keep our
trails open.
It costs thousands of
dollars to hire specialists, draft comment letters
and file appeals that have been successful at keeping
your trails and Lakeside access open.
Please make a
donation to Stewards to
help fund our efforts. Once the trails are closed it is
too late.
What is the big deal
about Stewards making a
substantive comment?
Read some of the comments Stewards has submitted on
behalf of our members and the community
Click Here |
We want to thank the over 2100
people who headed Stewards call to action and took the time to
submit comments before the 4/20/09 deadline in favor of keeping
trails open and preserving lakeside access. Your voices have
been heard by the Sequoia National Forest staff and have added
clout to comments submitted by Stewards.
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Kicking Us Off Our Public Lands Is Just
Flat Wrong
Read More
Public Says "NO MORE CLOSURES" at
Forest Meeting Read
More
US Forest Service 'Gestapo' riles
crowd at Isabella
Read More
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For more background on the previous
steps in the Sequoia Forest Route Designation planning process
Stewards of the
Sequoia (Sequoia Trail Designation Background)
Here is a link to the Sequoia National Forest current inventory
maps and time tables and other info
Sequoia National Forest Trail Inventory
Here is a link to the Forest Service
OHV Program Info that is driving the Trail Designation
OHV
Program-Forest Service
Background
Unmanaged Recreation
Article
Fed Plan to Restrict Off Roaders
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