I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Santa Fe National Forest will be a quieter, sweeter-smelling place under a U.S. Forest Service proposal released Thursday that calls for closing more than half its existing road and trail network to motorized vehicles.
Off-road, motorized recreation is a hot topic among forest users nationwide, and the Santa Fe forest plan has already drawn both praise and condemnation, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported today.
"This is a huge step in the right direction for protecting water, wildlife and places of refuge," Bryan Bird of the nonprofit advocacy group WildEarth Guardians told the New Mexican. He called it a "victory for quiet recreation," though it still must be approved and funds allocated to enforce the regulations, he said.
On the other side, off-road enthusiasts are fuming. Gordon Spingler of Los Alamos said the Forest Service plans would ban him and others in the Blackfeather Club from using trails they themselves built in the Jemez Mountains. The plan, which leaves motorcyclists with about 250 miles of trail throughout the 1.6-million-acre forest, "simply will not be acceptable to the motorcycle family. We will do everything in our power to change it," Spingler told the newspaper.
All national forests are in the process of designating specific roads, trails and other areas open to motorized use after the Forest Service identified off-road vehicle use and other "unmanaged recreation" as one of four major threats to forests nationwide — along with catastrophic fire, loss of open space and invasive species. Roads and trails that are not on the final motorized transportation map in each forest will be closed.
Santa Fe Forest Supervisor Dan Jiron told The New Mexican that the management change will protect wildlife habitat, even as it provides hunters, campers, wood-cutters and others with motorized access to their favorite spots. "We have too many roads, and this is a significant reduction," he said.
The forest currently has more than 4,900 miles of official roads and nearly 600 miles of narrow trails open and regularly used by motorized vehicles. Just over half the forest has more roads per square mile than the current management plan considers standard.
The new plan would limit motorized use to 2,309 miles of roads and 250 miles for all-terrain vehicles and/or motorcycles.
Details of the plan, including maps, are on the Forest Service Web site. Forest officials will hold 13 public meetings throughout northern New Mexico, starting July 28. A meeting will also be held in Albuquerque on Aug. 20. Public comment will be taken at the meetings, or submitted electronically. The public comment period runs through Aug. 23.
