Notice of Proposed Action for
Alpine County Winter Recreation Project

Your letters are needed!

Deadline is 5pm, June 30, 2007

SUMMARY

The Forest Service has issued their Notice of Proposed Action for the Alpine County Winter Recreation Project. The Notice contains the actions that, if implemented, will affect winter recreation use for decades in the Hope Valley, Monitor Pass and Highway 4 areas. The Proposed Action will provide improvements and benefits for non-motorized winter recreation, but as written the Action lacks important details necessary to ensure that it is implemented appropriately.

Introduction

Snowlands Network continues to support a balanced Winter Recreation Plan for Alpine County, California that will provide improvements and benefits for both non-motorized and motorized recreation. To that end we have worked with the Forest Service, Alpine County, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the snowmobile community to develop a plan.

Please note that the Proposed Project only affects lands in Alpine County east of the Sierra Crest.

The Forest Service is now in its second stage in the development of this project. In February 2007 the Carson Ranger District, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest issued a scoping notice on which we asked you to comment. Now the Forest Service has issued a Notice of Proposed Action (NOPA) for the Alpine County Winter Recreation Project. We again need you to submit comments to help ensure that the outcome will be beneficial to skiers, snowshoers and other non-motorized winter recreationists.

Elements of proposed project

Snowlands Network believes that if all elements of the Proposed Project are implemented, the Project will provide a net benefit to the non-motorized community. Therefore, we support the project. The following pairs of non-motorized and snowmobile opportunities are presented to show the balance.

Forestdale and Monitor Pass

Non-motorized opportunity. The Forestdale Creek area, from Red Lake up to Forestdale Divide would be closed to snowmobiles when there is sufficient snow at the Blue Lakes SnoPark for snowmobile use. This snow condition typically occurs from early or mid-December through early or mid-April. Therefore most of the winter season it would be closed to all snowmobile use except for local property owners. Prior to and after the snowmobile closure period, snowmobiles would still be restricted to the road through the Forestdale Creek area. This is a major improvement given that currently about half of the Forestdale Creek area is open to snowmobiles. The new mid-winter closure, as opposed to the current partial closure, would be easier to enforce.

Snowmobile opportunity. Improve accessibility of the Monitor Pass area to snowmobiles and open portions of the area that are currently closed to snowmobiles. This would include creating a staging area at Loope Canyon, which is above the current road closure point. This would also afford better access for non-motorized users wanting to access the Heenan Lake non-motorized wildlife area that would remain closed to snowmobiles. The Monitor Pass deer habitat area would remain closed to snowmobiles when deer are present.

Highway 88 and Highway 4

Non-motorized opportunity. The north side (actually it is west) of Highway 88 from Carson Pass to Picketts Junction would be closed to snowmobile use with one exception. That means Crater Lake, Scotts Lake and Stevens Peak would be off-limits to snowmobiles. The exception is that there would be a route on an existing road through the area that connects the Armstorng Pass area with the lands in Hope Valley south of Highway 88. This would enable snowmobilers to ride from South Lake Tahoe to Blue Lakes. The route through the area would receive minimal grooming, the purpose of which is to define the route but not create a raceway. Also some lands on the south side of Highway 88 would be closed to snowmobile use along with Fish & Game land near Picketts Junction.

Snowmobile opportunity. Improved snowmobile staging at Centerville. Centerville is located at the eastside winter closure gate on Highway 4. Snowmobiles currently park there but use is low because a section of Highway 4 (the “Flintstones”) is avalanche prone much of the winter. An old road that bypasses the Flintstones would be repaired where it has been washed out. Highway 4 from Centerville to Ebbetts Pass may be groomed for snowmobile use. This area is not popular with skiers and snowshoers.

Parking and access

Non-motorized opportunity. Create a parking area at Red Corral on Highway 88 to increase access to quiet-use terrain north and south of Highway 88, and improved parking at Picketts Junction (Burnside Lake Road). These two parking areas may become SnoParks. Shoulder-parking on Highway 88 would be prohibited over a four-mile stretch except for several turnouts that would continue to provide additional access to the north and south sides of Highway 88. Red Corral is surrounded by lands designed non-motorized.

Snowmobile opportunity. Additional parking, including overnight parking, at the Blue Lakes SnoPark.

Other

Snowmobile opportunity. The pruning of trees and installation of markers along the primitive Deer Creek road from Blue Lakes to Highway 4. This old road divides the Mokelumne Wilderness into two pieces. Snowmobilers occasionally use this route. These minor improvements are intended to help motorists stay within the non-wilderness corridor. This snowmobile route would not be groomed.

Snowlands Network is aware that the Proposed Action does not expand opportunities for non-motorized and motorized uses on a strictly equal acre-for-acre basis. However, Snowlands Network believes that improving non-motorized and quiet-use opportunities at Forestdale Creek and on the north side of Highway 88 warrant that concession.

Notice of Proposed Action lacks necessary details

Snowlands Network’s review of the NOPA revealed that the document is deficient in details. This bothers us greatly because as written we have no guarantee that the carefully negotiated balance would be achieved. Therefore it is extremely important that you take the time to write to the Forest Service to express the need for more details and a measure of certainty for a balanced project.

Deadline

Your comments must be mailed (postal or email) by 5:00pm, June 30, 2007.

Please don’t put it off. Write NOW!

Write to:

Carson Ranger District
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
Attn: District Ranger Gary Schiff
1536 South Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89703

or email to comments-intermtn-humboldt-toiyabe-carson@fs.fed.us

Please send a copy of your comments to:

Snowlands Network
P.O. Box 2570
Nevada City, CA 95959

or email to

elapham@snowlands.org

What to write

We do not give you a sample letter because we want you to put your comments in your own words. We have provided points that are critical and additional points that are also important. Pick and choose depending on your feelings.

Critical points

State that you are commenting on the NOPA for the Alpine County Winter Recreation Project.
State that you are a skier (or snowshoer or hiker) and why you enjoy the sport. For example, you may backcountry ski because you enjoy the solitude of the mountains in winter and to get away from the noise and pollution of the city. Or maybe you are doing it strictly for the exercise or to enjoy the exhilaration of telemark skiing untracked powder.
State that you find snowmobile use incompatible with your enjoyment of the winter backcountry. For example, the noise of snowmobiles destroys the solitude, the smell of snowmobile exhaust pollutes the pristine atmosphere that you seek, and that snowmobiles tear-up the snowscape quickly leaving behind frozen ruts that are hazardous and unpleasant for skiers and snowshoers. Maybe you feel unsafe when you are forced to be in close proximity with snowmobiles (explain why).
The lack of details such as the failure to map the prospective snowmobile boundary in the Monitor Pass area, the lack of specifics regarding how the various components of the Project will be implemented, and no indication as to what alternatives may be considered in the Environmental Analysis make it impossible to effectively comment on some aspects of the NOPA. Therefore a comment period must be provided following the EA and before a decision.
The closure of the Forestdale Creek area is the centerpiece of the project for the non-motorized community because it offers outstanding terrain for beginner as well as advanced skiers and snowshoers, has spectacular scenery, is easily accessible, and has a long history of use by the ski and snowshoe community. This area has also been the focus of two lawsuits and 16 years of efforts to restore it as a haven for skiers and snowshoers. If you agree, then state that if the Forestdale Creek area is not designated non-motorized then the Project is unacceptable to you.
The resource protection measures in the Proposed Project are inadequate to deter snowmobile trespass into areas closed to their use. The proposed measures are the same as existing measures, which have repeatedly been shown to be insufficient. The Project must include new, innovative techniques, such as remote sensing and a fast response team, in order to provide more effective enforcement. This is especially true because illegal use of snowmobiles was at an all-time high last winter in the Forestdale Creek area. Without adequate enforcement and compliance we have not gained quiet use terrain and have given up other areas previously closed to snowmobile use or at least hard to access by snowmobile.
The Proposed Project must provide for an annual review of snowmobile compliance and there must be penalties (consequences) for non-compliance.

Additional points

To assure fairness, elements of the Proposed Action should be adopted and implemented as balanced pairs of motorized and non-motorized benefits.
The lands surrounding plowed turnouts on Highway 88 must be designated and signed for non-motorized use.
The snowmobile route from Armstrong Pass to Highway 89 should not be groomed, only marked, and the snowmobile route from Highway 89 to Highway 88 should receive low-level grooming to define the authorized route through the snowmobile closure area.
The Proposed Action fails to specifically state that Burnside Road is to remain closed to snowmobiles.
Thank the Forest Service for working with all recreation user groups to formulate an equitable plan.