February 7, 2006 (Sheridan, WY) - A coalition of Wyoming groups today urged the Chief of the United States Forest Service to review the Bighorn National Forest Plan to make sure that the final proposal properly protects the Bighorn Forest’s Roadless and wilderness-quality lands which are vital for local hunting, fishing and recreation. This is the last public appeal on Wyoming’s national forest plans allowed under the new Bush administration rules.
“The Bighorns are a Wyoming treasure,” said Gina Clingerman, president of the Bighorn Forest Users Network from Buffalo who grew up near the Bighorns. “We’re urging the Forest Chief to step in to protect the Bighorns so future generations of hunters, hikers, anglers, and campers can enjoy them as well. The Bighorns should not be a shrinking treasure. With all the energy and other development going on in Wyoming, it’s important to protect a lasting place like the Bighorns that has world-class hunting, fishing and recreation.”
The Bighorn National Forest is in the final stages of developing a new Forest Management Plan that will govern the use of public lands on the Forest for the next fifteen to twenty years.
Protecting public lands in the Bighorn Forest is popular with the public. Bighorn National Forest officials noted that the agency received more than 18,800 email letters and comments and in excess of 400 mailed letters and cards commenting on the Bighorn National Forest’s draft management plan. Of those public comments, 97 percent supported protecting public lands and providing for more wilderness areas rather than seeing more development.
“It would behoove our organization to allow the Bighorn’s final plan to go unchallenged. This Forest Service plan will be the “point of no return” to protect our remaining roadless lands. It also tries to increase the amount of logging to an unsustainable amount,” noted Liz Howell with the Wyoming Wilderness Association. “If we don’t protect the finite habitat on our Mountain in this plan, there will not be a choice for more Wilderness in the next generations.”
The comments to the Forest Service Chief came through what is known as an “administrative appeal.” This step is taken by the public once a Forest Plan nears completion and it requires that Forest Service officials take a “bird’s-eye view” of the almost finished plan to make sure represents the best possible solution.
Jeremy Nichols of the Wyoming based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance says, “Many species of wildlife in the northern Rockies also depend on undisturbed forest habitat. Unfortunately, the Bighorn National Forest failed to uphold their most important duty--to protect the viability of native species, and the overall diversity of life on lands it administers.”
The comments were officially sent to the Forest Service Chief on February 3rd via regular mail. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Bighorn National Forest Plan Revision process was signed in November, 2005. The substantive comments from the coalition of organizations consisted of 264 pages plus an addendum of roadless areas maps and attachments.
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