FOREST SERVICE PROJECT PROPOSES TO REROUTE SEGMENTS OF THE NORTH COUNTRY TRAIL

Release Date: May 13, 2016

Contact(s): Gary Chancey, Public Affairs Officer, 740-753-0862

NELSONVILLE, Ohio  – The Wayne National Forest Athens Ranger District is seeking public comments on a proposal that would reroute segments of the North Country Trail (NCT). If approved, the NCT Reroute Project would provide for a safer and more scenic trail by rerouting some segments off of public roads and other segments to more maintainable locations. This project would also provide for enhanced mountain bike riding in areas where the use is allowed.

Three separate sections of the NCT would have segments of reroutes: near Lamping Homestead Recreation Area (Marietta Unit), near Archer’s Fork Trail (Marietta Unit), and near Stone Church Trail (Athens Unit).

The NCT Reroute Project may be categorically excluded from documentation in an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement. It fits within the following category of exclusion: Construction and reconstruction of trails (36 CFR 220.6(e)(1)). This may be your only opportunity to comment on the project proposal.

Please make your comments to Dawn McCarthy at Wayne National Forest, Athens Ranger District, 13700 U.S. Hwy 33, Nelsonville, Ohio 45764, specifically stating that they are in reference to the scoping period for the NCT Reroute Project. Your input on this project is welcome at any time, but to be most helpful, please submit it by June 7, 2016. Please include your name, current physical mailing address, phone number and signature or other verification of identity with your comments.

You may also call to discuss this project at (740) 753-0101 during normal business hours (M-F, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or submit comments electronically to: comments-eastern-wayne-marietta@fs.fed.us.

Information about this and other projects being developed and analyzed can be found online at the Wayne National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/wayne/landmanagement/projects. For more information, visit our website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/wayne. Follow us on Twitter: @waynenationalfs and on Facebook.

The U.S. Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a mission of sustaining the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Forest Service’s Eastern Region includes twenty states in the Midwest and East, stretching from Maine, to Maryland, to Missouri, to Minnesota.  There are 17 national forests and one national tallgrass prairie in the Eastern Region. For more information, visit www.fs.usda.gov/R9.

The U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live. For more information, visit www.fs.usda.gov/.

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