Ok as of today the Eldorado National Forest Route Designation team has stated that hey will release the draft EIS (the document that closes the roads:mad3:)_on July 20th. Everyone on the phone meeting feels this is a bad date, it would mean the 45 day comment period ends on Monday Sept 3rd which is labor day. I recommend eveyone send an email to them at eldoradoroutes@fs.fed.us and ask that the release date be moved back at least one week, and it should be released on a monday and not a friday.
They will have public meetings the week following the release, if they do it on the 20th, that is the week of the Jeepers Jamboree so a lot of people will not be available to attend these meetings.
they have also said the Forest suporvisor has not picked an alternative yet, and if he has we will not know untill the release dates. also maps will only be availble online or by sending a request to them for a CD of the DEIS.
they are also scheduling a phone meeting July 10th at 12 noon

Fawkin BULLSHIT.

It figures.

E-mail sent Rick...

To Whom it may Concern,

Regarding the dates for the Route Designation I feel that they have not been chosen to provide maximum public interaction. If public voice is seen as an important part for the public/national land I feel the dates need to be changed. Instead of releasing the plan on a Friday before busy weekends it should be released on a Monday to provide more time for review. Also the end date is during a Holiday. I feel this is a poor decision as it is a very popular weekend to have family activities going on and closes the window for feedback even more.

I also feel that it is extremal important to pick an alternate plan. If no alternate plan has been chosen or reviewed it seems as though there is no contingency plan and that lends me to believe no options will be considered during the review.

I hope it is seriously reconsidered to have the release date changed along with when the closing date falls.

Thank You,

This is an idea...

What if at both the Jeep and Jeepers Jamborees having someone there with the Draft EIS in hand.

Randii :D can make large maps, we could hang one and show people what is being closed, give them some pre addressed letters/forms, and show them how to properly write a "comment". Collect them and give them to Eldo?

I know it's a lot of work, but something I would be willing to help with.

This is an idea...

What if at both the Jeep and Jeepers Jamborees having someone there with the Draft EIS in hand.

Randii :D can make large maps, we could hang one and show people what is being closed, give them some pre addressed letters/forms, and show them how to properly write a "comment". Collect them and give them to Eldo?

I know it's a lot of work, but something I would be willing to help with.

Hey, everybody needs to be ready for hard work. It's going to be a continuous, difficult fight to keep public lands public. I think this is a great idea. Let me know what I can do to help. Maybe some sort of info booth in Georgetown? I volunteer to man the one at the bar!:flipoff2:

I think we need a table or a booth.

I am MORE THAN WILLING to pass stuff out on the 3 day Jambo.

It would even be better if a flyer could be put into the little bag of flyers that they give everyone....

Here's my letter:


To Whom It May Concern:

I understand that the Eldorado National Forest Route Designation team has stated that the draft EIS is to be released on July 20th, which would mean the 45-day comment period ends on Monday, Sept 3rd. This is Labor Day weekend, a time when the majority of us who are directly affected by the proposed rights-of-way closures will be out with our families enjoying our trails (for perhaps the last time).

It is also my understanding that the public meetings are to be held the week following the release, which would mean that if the draft EIS is released on the 20th, all of the Jeepers Jamboree attendees will not be available to attend these meetings. Again, those of us who are directly affected by the proposed rights-of-way closures will be under-represented. It seems to me that this timetable has been either poorly planned, or "conveniently" planned.

I would like to ask that the release date be moved back at least one week, and it should be released on a Monday and not a Friday, to allow for a more complete public participation.

And I would like to re-affirm that I am VERY MUCH against ANY road and trail closures which could affect my rights-of-way. Please recall that in 1976 Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act which specifically and explicitly reaffirmed ALL existing RS 2477 rights-of-way. Many of the roads and trails referenced in the Route Designation Project are RS 2477 rights-of-way which can ONLY be taken legally by an Act of Congress. The Forest Service was created to preserve and maintain public access, not to restrict and remove it; the public simply WILL NOT stand for our rights to be stolen so blatantly.

In making future land use decisions, please keep in mind that the OHV community wishes to work WITH the Forest Service to preserve our natural resources FOR the public, instead of FROM the public. If you have any specific needs for which I can be of ANY assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

blah blah blah

I meet with Jason Nedlo this saturday for about an hour. As for the Draft being released on a different date he said there is really no way they can postpone it any longer, it must be released on a Friday since that is the day the Federal Register is released each week, also the comment period will end on Tuesday sept 4th, since Monday is a holiday and it cannot end on a holiday.
As for the public meetings that will follow the release, they will be the week of July 23rd, unfortunatly I will be in New York that whole week so I will miss all of them, I am going to see if he will have at least one of them the following week. I also asked him to keep in mind that the Jeepers Jamboree is at the end of that week and will affect who can attend the meetings. They are still looking at 3 meetings, one in Placerville, one in Jackson, the one in Markleeville will not happen and instead of moving it to Folsom they are looking at the possibility of the Bay Area, Vallejo works for them because the have a facility they can use there. I strongly suggest anyone that has friends in the bay area that would go to one of these meetings email the forest service and tell them that they support a bay area meeting.

I also contacted Jeepers Jamboree Inc. and asked if they were going to put out any information about the roads closures in there handouts, there responce was

"We will not be handing out any information about the Route Plan the 20th is too close to our trip and I won't have the extra time to put that together. "

I've requested a copy of the CD. If it will go like most DEIS docs there will be maps in it for each of the alternatives. I'll do my best to compare the maps, but I'm not at all familar with the area which means I'll be relying on Alternative A as my base for what is on the ground (its the "no action alternative") - regardless I'm damn good at finding their mistakes (hence why White River has not released their supplemental DEIS, I found 22 pages of mistakes).
Is there anyone willing to help me compare the maps? It is time consuming and tedious, but I've got the process down and the reporting in Excel. The maps also need to be compared to the Forest Plan to see if the FS is actually playing by their own rules.

I have no problem studying the maps, I know a lot about a small area in the Eldorado Forest,but what "mistakes" would we be looking for? and what affect would these mistakes have? each map is different, A, B, C, D, E. my understaning is that when the draft is released, all maps will be included with one of them being the "chosen" one. we then need to make specific and direct comments on roads that do not exist on that chosen alternative and have it added to it. by the way, for a road to be added to the chosen alternative it must already exist on one of the other alternatives or they will not acept it at all.

The Jeepers Jambo response is so discouraging. WTF does that mean "we don't have time?"

I'm about to blow a gasket.....:mad3:

We have no direction, "get involved" is not a direction, a directive maybe, but come on....if all you want is our money, then just freaking say so.

No reason to spend all this time trying to get involved and get sh1t done, when it's not welcome, or we end up stepping on somebody's toes, because that's the project they're working on.

What do you want from us???? Blue Ribbon??? CORVA??? UFWDA??? CAL4WD???

/rant off....for now.

I sent WLDWUN a PM overview of how to read the maps. If anyone else is interested in helping PM me and we can get a group together and get it done fast.

I'm a bit disappointed at Jeep and Jeepers Jamboree response, but knowing what goes into putting those events together I understand their time constraints. Perhaps if someone wants to get the CD and take it with and show it on a screen that might be an easy solution. Printing out the maps for Jamboree isn't going to be easy, or cost effective. The last DEIS maps I printed were around $1500 for full color (which you want) and they print on a 11x14 paper since they usually break the maps into 7.5 minute quads.

I am not done with the Jeeper Jamboree. If anyone knows the emails of someone on the board of directors I will contact the personally. I have only gotten the Office managers responce as of yet. I also want to see if Jason Nedlo will let the maps be put in the Jamboree office since everyone on the Jamboree will have to sign in there, maybe borrow them from Georgetown Ranger office which is just down the road. He did say they would only print about 10 copies of each map, and they are 3 x 4 feet each.
I aint giving up yet, I havnt pissed enough people off yet :D

I aint giving up yet, I havnt pissed enough people off yet :D
That's the attitude I like to hear!!!!

they have now posted that the Eldorado forest service will have another phone conference meeting on July 10 at 12pm (noon). anyone can call in and listen, ask questions, etc. I expect Jason will be confirming that the DEIS will be released on the 20th, and when and where they will be holding the public meetings. it normally will last about 30 minutes and is over lunch so if you can please try to attend. He also told me they will be having an online form posted for people to submit during the comment period
also I think if people are interested they must push him for a meeting in the Bay area after the DEIS is released. personaly I will drive as far as it takes to attend, but the closer it is, the more people will attend.

Call-in information:
Dial 1-866-720-3489,
passcode 9683102, #

Jason Nedlo (Route team leader) email jnedlo@fs.fed.us or eldoradoroutes@fs.fed.us

just got this from Jason this afternoon, anyone interested in a meeting in the bay area should be emailing him supporting the idea


"We are still considering having a meeting in the Bay Area. Right now we are working on getting the locations reserved and setting up a schedule for all the meetings. I understand people want to get the meetings on their schedules before they fill up so I will send out an email on eldoradoroutes when the locations are finalized."

just got this from Jason this afternoon, anyone interested in a meeting in the bay area should be emailing him supporting the idea


"We are still considering having a meeting in the Bay Area. Right now we are working on getting the locations reserved and setting up a schedule for all the meetings. I understand people want to get the meetings on their schedules before they fill up so I will send out an email on eldoradoroutes when the locations are finalized."

Any update on this? A meeting in the Bay Area would make it possible for a lot more of us to make our voices heard.

The forest service just sent this out this afternoon, they will advise the meeting schedule next tuesday, call in if you can


Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you know that our next telephone briefing on the Route Designation Project will be Tuesday, July 10, at 12:00 pm. To access the briefing follow the instructions below:

Dial: 1-866-720-3489, then passcode: 9683102, then press #.

During the call, we will discuss the impending release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the public meeting schedule, and the remaining timeline for the project. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

Please inform others about this opportunity. If you have any questions or comments please reply to this message.

Thanks for your interest,
Jason Nedlo

Any word with the Jambo's yet?
We could flood them with e-mails and phone calls to persuade them.

Jeepers Jamboree has agreed to let us put a flyer in all the handout bags they give all of the participants. we are to get them 1500 flyers by July 13th. A big thanks to Lacey and Jeepers Jamboree Inc!

AWESOME!!!
Is there anything I can do?

Also, we should have a few people at the Tahoe side(with large maps and more flyers) to reinforce how important this is (most will forget after a long few days on the trail).

The public meeting schedule has been released.

it is important that you attend one near you to learn how to write a comment and get a copy of the draft!!

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/projects/route/pm-schedule/index.shtml

I hate driving to concord but I'll be at that meeting :mad3: as a Hell if needed