U.S. Forest Service officials hope it will be received with a nod of approval from the Greenlee County public.

The agency’s Motorized Travel Management Plan increases the amount of road mileage that will be open to all motorized vehicles in the Clifton Ranger District.

The plan also decreases mileage in the Clifton District that is presently closed to public motorized travel and is used only for emergency and administrative use. Clifton Ranger District Frank Hayes and Alpine District Ranger Richard Davalos presented the Forest Service proposal for review at the March 7 Greenlee County Board of Supervisors meeting. A public meeting on the proposal was held the previous day in Clifton at the Old Train Depot. A similar meeting was held in Safford March 8.

The motorized-use proposal is one of several possible alternatives that will be developed and analyzed over the next six months.

Hayes and Davalos explained Operational Maintenance Level 2 roads are those that will be open to all motorized vehicles unless otherwise posted. Hayes said the existing mileage for Level 2 roads in the Apache Forest of the Apache-Sitgreaves Forests system is 211 miles. That will be increased to 238 miles under the new proposal.

Maintenance Level 1 roads in the Clifton District, which are closed to public motorized travel and open only for emergency and administrative use, will be decreased from 55 to 34 miles. The existing 5 miles of ML 3-5 roads will remain the same.

The Apache Forest covers about two-thirds of the northern portion of Greenlee County. Cattle ranching is the primary industry in the forest, mostly along the Blue River and Upper Eagle Creek. Logging ceased in 1992 when the area was declared as critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl. The Arizona Cattlegrowers made an unsuccessful attempt in Federal Court in February to have the critical habitat designation reversed.

The county at one time received $850,000 in fees from logging activity. It dropped to as little as $67,000. Federal intervention and payments to make up what has been lost in logging has been as much as $620,000.

The Apache Forest is highly popular with locals and tourists. It is a hot spot for outdoor enthusiasts, including hunters, hikers and off-road-vehicle users. The northern portion of the Clifton District includes the Blue Wilderness Area, where vehicles are prohibited.

Greenlee County Super-visors Chairman Hector Ruedas, who represents District 3 that includes the Apache Forest, has repeatedly emphasized that keeping roads open to the public is vital to the county’s economy through tourism and the cattle industry.

The proposal will also increase the number of ML 2 roads in the Springerville Range District from the existing 265 miles to 384.

Overall decrease

However, there will be a decrease in total open miles for ML 2-5 road mileage open to the public throughout the Apache-Sitgreaves Forests. The existing amount is 2,779 miles and the proposed total is 2,651 miles, a decrease of 128 miles.

Deryl Jevons, acting forest supervisor for the Apache-Sitgreaves, said the 128-mile decrease resulted from closing about 438 miles of existing Forest Service roads that are currently open; opening about 371 miles of roads that are currently closed; designating about 42 miles of existing trails and user-created roads to the Forest Service road inventory; converting about 93 miles of currently closed and open roads to ATV routes for vehicles less than 50 inches wide; and establishing about 55 miles of new ATV routes.

Jevons said, “The modified proposal includes more motorized roads and trails available for public travel than did the earlier proposal. We have worked hard to consider all of the comments received and design a motorized transportation system that tries to balance the needs of nonmotorized recreation and motorized recreation.”

Jevons said, “The proposal tries to establish a system of motorized travel opportunities where those users of ATVs or high-clearance vehicles will be rewarded with some outstanding rides while discouraging cross-country use.”

The Travel Management Rule is scheduled to be implemented in the fall of 2009 and will close the Forests to cross-country motorized use. However, cross-country motorized big game retrieval for elk and mule deer would be allowed up to 1 mile off an open road with some seasonal and time-of-day restrictions.

Fuelwood gathering would continue using the current Forest Service permit system with some minor modifications to ensure the gathering is done in accord with the Travel Management Rule.

Maps of the modified proposal and documents describing the proposal can be seen at the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Web site at: www.fs.fed.us/-r3/asnf/projects/travel-management.