The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Rio Grande National Forest announced recently the beginning of the forest-wide Over Snow Travel Management Planning Project.
A notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register on April 30, establishing the official 45-day comment period for the project. The resulting decision from the analysis will set parameters that will guide over-snow travel on forest roads, trails and cross-country use for the next 15-20 years across the 1.8-million-acre Rio Grande National Forest.
The project will require an environmental impact statement and, when completed, will be an addendum to the Rio Grande National Forest Land Management Plan, which was signed in May of 2020. The Over Snow Travel Management Plan will provide direction for motorized use across the Rio Grande. It is likely that the direction will amend the current direction in the Rio Grande National Forest Land Management Plan.
Interested parties wishing to submit comments on the Over Snow Travel Management Planning Project should submit them online at: https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Project/Details/3993.
“The over-snow travel management planning process will require a great deal of public involvement in order to develop the best product that balances winter motorized travel needs with the appropriate use of our natural resources,” said Forest Supervisor Dennis Kuhnel. “We invite and look forward to collaborating with our tribes, interested forest users, our valuable communities and our partners from other agencies on this important process.”
Kuhnel added that this process will be a long undertaking that will follow the guidelines set forth in the National Environmental Policy Act for an environmental impact statement. Rio Grande National Forest personnel will aim to complete the process in approximately two years.
The next step in process will be to release draft environmental impact statement, which will be available for public comment.
Additional information about the Over Snow Travel Management Planning Project can be viewed at https://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/Over-snow Travel Management Planning and in the official project record at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/riogrande/?project=65529 .
For information on the Rio Grande National Forest, call (719) 850-2374, visit the forest website.
