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Public Input Sought for Road Study
Release Date: Jul 15, 2014
GLADSTONE, MI (July 16, 2014) – Hiawatha National Forest Supervisor Jo Reyer reminds the public that the Forest Service is seeking public input through September 30, 2014, as part of the Forest's ongoing road study.
In May 2014, the U.S. Forest Service announced the beginning of a study of the risks and benefits for visitors and the environment associated with the road system on the Hiawatha National Forest. The Road Study analysis, referred to as “Subpart A,” is part of the implementation of the 2005 Travel Management Rule, 36 CFR 212.
The Subpart A study will gather information that will assist the agency in identifying a road system that provides access for the public and forest management activities, minimizes environmental impacts, and can be maintained within budget constraints.
“The information we gather will be used in the future to help us identify a minimum road system that serves the needs of the public and the Forest Service at a cost we can afford to maintain over time,” explained Forest Supervisor Jo Reyer.
Public use and road maintenance needs continue to grow on the Hiawatha. At the same time resources for road maintenance are decreasing. Roads that are not adequately maintained can be unsafe to visitors and threaten forest health. They can increase soil erosion into rivers and streams, degrading water quality and impacting fish and wildlife.
The Hiawatha National Forest includes more than 2000 miles of roads. To assess the impacts of each Forest Service road the Forest Service, with input from the public, will consider conditions/criteria related factors such as recreation, wildlife, safety, and engineering. This process will integrate that information to identify positive, neutral or negative factors related to each road.
The Forest held open houses in Munising, Rapid River, Sault Ste Marie and St. Igance as one way to involve the public, local, state, other federal agencies, tribal governments, and other stakeholders in this information gathering effort. If you didn't attend the openhouse, there is still plenty of opportunity to learn about the process and provide input. For more information about the process, visit the Land Management page on our website: http://www.fs.usda.gov/land/hiawatha/landmanagement.
If you would like to provide information to the study, you can submit it online at http://tinyurl.com/Hiawatha-Tapcomments. Public comments will be used to identify opportunities for potential future changes to the road system. Hardcopy maps and comment forms are also available for review at each Ranger District office and the Forest Supervisor’s office. To learn more about the Hiawatha’s road study process, contact project manager Ginger Molitor at 906-428-5800.
“The Subpart A analysis is an information-gathering study, not a decision-making process,” Reyer said. “The knowledge that we gain now will be used in the future to develop site-specific proposals.”
The national forest will complete the Subpart A study by October 2015.
For more information about the Hiawatha National Forest, please visit our website www.fs.usda.gov/Hiawatha, or call or visit a Hiawatha National Forest office near you. Our offices are located in Gladstone (906-428-5800), Rapid River (906-474-6442), Sault Ste. Marie (906-635-5311) and St. Ignace (906-643-7900).
-- USFS --
About the U.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a part of the federal government’s executive branch. The mission of the U.S. Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land and is the largest forestry research organization in the world.