Elko County heating up again over USFS road plan
By JULIE WOOTTON, Elko Daily Free Press, May 6, 2010 [here]
ELKO — “No action” isn’t a viable final decision for the Travel Management Plan, a U.S. Forest Service ranger told Elko County Commissioners Wednesday.
The public comment period opens Friday on the Forest Service’s draft environmental impact statement and continues until mid-June.
Gar Abbas, Ruby Mountains and Jarbidge district ranger, said a final decision must be made by the end of the year. The original deadline was December 2009.
The Mountain City, Ruby Mountains and Jarbidge Ranger Districts’ Combined Travel Management Project is the only plan in Nevada that hasn’t been approved, Abbas said.
Commissioner Warren Russell asked whether “no action,” which is one the Forest Service’s five alternatives in the draft EIS, is actually a real option.
“Is it baloney or not?” Russell asked.
Abbas said the Forest Service is required to include “no action” as an alternative in the draft EIS because it serves as a baseline for the environmental analysis. However, the Forest Service can’t choose the “no action” alternative as a final decision because it would violate former President George W. Bush’s 2005 executive order for each forest to establish a Travel Management Plan.
Elko County Planner Randy Brown said he is in the process of reviewing the draft EIS for the second time and he has about three pages of questions.
“It makes me angry every time I turn a page,” he said. “We’ve been lied to again.”
Brown said he would recommend the “no action” alternative.
“We’re losing a lot more than we’re being told,” he said. …
Commissioner John Ellison said through closing roads, the federal government is setting people up for failure.
“What are you guys doing?” he asked. … [more]