Bill Harlan, Journal staff | Posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:00 pm
|
A long-awaited plan
for an off-roading trail system in the Black Hills National Forest
won't be ready until August.
"We had hoped to
have it done by May or early June," forest supervisor Craig Bobzien
said.
The delay is due to
the huge volume of public comments, Bobzien said, including more
than 4,000 miles of suggested trails.
The U.S. Forest
Service has computerized the suggested trail maps, Bobzien said,
overlaying them to eliminate duplications. The new trail system
also must avoid environmentally sensitive areas and archaeological
sites.
"We want to make
sure we do that right," Bobzien said.
Bobzien gave a
progress report on the trail system Wednesday at a regular meeting
of the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board - a citizens
panel that advises him on forest policy.
Bobzien said the
new trail system likely will follow existing unimproved roads and
trails, partly because the Forest Service will have little money to
build new trails and partly because the Black Hills already have
more roads per acre than almost any other national
forest.
The Black Hills
National Forest also is one of the few national forests where
motorized off-roading is allowed everywhere except where expressly
prohibited. However, the U.S. Forest Service has ordered all
national forests to change to designated-trail systems by
2009.
The most promising
way to pay for a trail system in the Black Hills is a partnership
with the state of South Dakota. In fact, the Forest Service is
working with the state Game, Fish & Parks Department to
establish an off-roading system similar to the state snowmobile
trail system.
A task force
created by Gov. Mike Rounds is working on a package of legislation
to create a system to register and license off-road vehicles to pay
for maintenance and administration of a trail system. "It's going
to be an interesting issue," GF&P parks and recreation director
Doug Hofer told the forest advisory board.
Much of the most
recent task force meeting, he said, was spent determining a legal
definition for off-road vehicles. (Snowmobiles, golf carts and
"personal assistive mobility devices," for example, would be
exempt.)
The task force
hopes to have a package of bills ready for the Legislature's 2008
session in January and February.
After the Forest
Service releases its trail plan in August, there will be a series
of public meetings and a formal public-comment period on the new
rules.
Contact Bill Harlan
at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com
