Forest Service officials are seeking public comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed amendment to the Land Management Plans for the four Southern California national forests (the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino).
The proposal would change the land use zone allocations for select roadless areas on the four forests. The proposed action rezones the majority of the land-use zone allocations within the inventoried roadless areas to back country non-motorized and recommended wilderness. The proposed action allocations are based on the wilderness evaluations for the IRAs that were updated concurrent with this analysis.
There are 37 inventoried roadless areas within the four forests. Five are in the San Bernardino National Forest — Cactus Springs B, Cucamonga B, Cucamonga C, Pyramid Peak A, Raywood Flats B. The Palm Canyon Creek in the San Jacinto Ranger District is eligible for classification as a Wild River and is adjacent to the Pyramid Peak A Inventoried Roadless Area.
According to the Forest Service, visitation to recommended wilderness land-use zones could possibly increase as more people seek out those values. However, visitation to existing designated wilderness has actually decreased since the early 2000s in the Angeles, Cleveland and Los Padres National Forests, while it increased within the San Bernardino National Forest.
The environmental impact statement analyzes the proposal to modify the existing land-use zones allocations in selected inventoried roadless areas to include more back country non-motorized and recommended wilderness areas. It also analyzes the proposal to modify the land management plan a monitoring framework. The environmental impact statement can be found on the project webpage at: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35130.
This proposed amendment to the Land Management Plan is part of the Settlement Agreement approved Jan. 3, 2011, in the case of California Resources Agency, et al vs. United States Department of Agriculture, and Center for Biological Diversity, et al v. United States Department of Agriculture.
Public Meetings
The four national forests will be hosting multiple open houses during the 90-day comment period that began Feb. 15. None are planned for the San Jacinto Ranger District. According to acting Public Information Officer John Miller, “When we looked at the level of participation in the last meeting on this topic, we found that public participation was heavily weighted towards the Los Padres National Forest (Santa Barbara area) versus the forests further east.”
The content and format of each meeting will be identical; however each forest will be presenting information specific to the local area. Meetings will begin with an open house where Forest Service staff will be available to answer questions about the Draft SEIS. A brief presentation will begin 30 minutes after the meeting opens, followed by an opportunity to ask questions. Maps of the alternatives will be available for viewing.
How to Comment
The public is encouraged to participate in the process. Comments should be received within 90 days of the publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The notice was published on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, and the comment period closes on Thursday, May 16, 2013.
Comments may be sent via e-mail to [email protected], or filed through the project web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35130
Send written comments to: Cleveland National Forest, 10845 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92127-2107, ATTN: LMP Amendment.
For further information, contact Project Manager Bob Hawkins at [email protected] or visit http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php?project=35130.
Plan meeting times and locations
March 26, 4-7 p.m.
Angeles National Forest Headquarters
701 North Santa Anita Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91006March 26, 4-7 p.m.
Alpine Community Center
1830 Alpine Blvd.
Alpine, CA 91901
(Hosted by the Cleveland National Forest)March 27, 4-7 p.m
Palomar Ranger District Office
1634 Black Canyon Rd.
Ramona, CA 92065March 28, 4-7 p.m.
Santa Clara Mojave Rivers Ranger District Office 33708 Crown Valley Rd.
Acton, CA 93510March 28, 5-7:30 p.m.
San Bernardino National Forest Headquarters
602 S. Tippecanoe Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92408April 9, 4-7 p.m.
Mt. Pinos Ranger District office
34580 Lockwood Valley Rd.
Frazier Park, CA 93225April 10, 4-7 p.m., Southern California Edison,
103 David Love Place
Goleta, CA 93117
(Hosted by Los Padres National Forest)
