Redding, CA: The Shasta-Trinity National Forest has rolled out draft maps of where off-highway vehicles may roll through the woods. The five road maps being considered by forest officials would add as many as 100 miles to the 3,800 miles already on the map – or none at all.
Critics say the Shasta-Trinity isn’t adding enough of the 1,200 miles of “unauthorized” roads chartered in an inventory process that started in late 2005.
Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth identified unmanaged off-highway vehicle use as one of the top four threats to the nation’s forests in 2005, prompting the process to flip the rules of the forest roads.
Currently, people may drive most anywhere unless told not to. When the new maps are adopted, they’ll be told by the U.S. Forest Service where they can drive.
The maps released this week are part of 560 pages of draft environmental documents for the forest’s Motorized Travel Management plan. Public comment on the five potential maps and documents will be taken until Aug. 10 and then a finalized map will be out this winter.
The new map will help protect the 2.1 million-acre forest, said Bruce Waggoner, chairman of the Shasta Group of the Sierra Club.
