An advocate for quiet, motor-free areas in the Black Hills objects to a U.S. Forest Service announcement of public workshops about a new off-roading trail system.

"This news release is very disturbing to me," Colin Paterson wrote in an e-mail to Black Hills National Forest Supervisor Craig Bobzien.

The Forest Service press release opened: "Forgot to ask why your favorite road isn't on the proposed travel management map or why there aren't more areas to ride a motorcycle? Plan to attend one of four scheduled workshops to get your questions answered." (See the schedule below.)

Paterson is a founding member of the Norbeck Society, created by hikers. The Forest Service news release, he said, revealed the Forest Service's "clear bias" toward off-roaders - as opposed to hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

Forest Service spokesman Frank Carroll said the announcement was an innocent attempt to draw attention to the meetings. "This is an open invitation to anybody," Carroll said.

But Carroll also said it was only natural that off-road vehicles have been emphasized in planning the trail system. "It's a MOTORIZED vehicle trail," Carroll said. "It heavily restricts them compared to what they had. So yes, it's focused on them."

The Forest Service has proposed a sweeping plan that would reduce the nearly 10,000 miles of roads and trails now available to off-roaders to less than 4,000 miles.

The proposed trail system also flip-flops the ruling principle for off-roading in the Black Hills National Forest. Today, off-roaders can go anywhere they are not specifically prohibited. By the end of next year, when the new trail system will be in effect, off-road vehicles will be restricted to designated trails.

"Over 800,000 acres of forest will be taken out of use by motorized vehicles," Carroll said. "I don't quite understand where Colin was coming from."

"I agree that's a positive," Paterson said of the new rules.

But he and other members of the Norbeck Society say too many trails for motorized trails cross hiking trails or run parallel to them.

For example, Paterson cited a stretch of the Centennial Trail north of Dalton Lake. Proposed off-roading trails cross the trail half a dozen times.

Another example, Paterson said, was a hiking trail near Savoy in Spearfish Canyon. It leads to a spectacular overlook. "There's a network of ATV trails there," Paterson said. The Norbeck Society would prefer a single trail that required riders to dismount well before the overlook.

In the Sand Creek Roadless Area on the Wyoming side of the Black Hills, Paterson said, proposed off-roading trails seem to overlap and cross the Dugout Gulch hiking trail.

Carroll said Paterson's suggestions were exactly what the Forest Service was looking for during this public comment period, which ends Nov. 13. But he also objected to Paterson's assertion that hikers and others were shortchanged. "We're absolutely going to demonstrate our consideration for non-motorized uses," he said.

The Forest Service has been gathering public comments about off-roading in the Black Hills for more than three years. Carroll pointed out that another member of the Norbeck Society was an early participant. "The intensity and urgency of the public involvement was actually kicked off by Becci Rowe, when she came forward very bravely and alerted us to the situation in Botany Canyon," Carroll said.

Botany Canyon, near Piedmont, is a delicate riparian area popular among hikers. Four-wheelers had damaged the narrow canyon - an action that led to the formation of the Norbeck Society by Paterson, Rowe and others.

Rowe, who lives near Botany Canyon, is still involved in the issue. Like Paterson, she believes the proposed Forest Service trail system unveiled last month sets aside too little land for quiet pursuits. "There just aren't any open areas," she said.

Rowe believes that if the Forest Service eliminated most of more than 500 dead-end spur trails, it would help create "areas of open space where it's quiet."

Paterson, Rowe and others are working to deliver extensive comments to the Forest Service by Nov. 13. Off-roading groups are doing the same. So are individuals on either side of the debate.

After the comments are in, the Forest Service will spend the winter writing another draft of the plan, which will be open to public comment next spring.

The final "environmental impact statement," including the final version of the trail map, could be ready as early as the end of 2008.

Off-roading workshops

The U.S. Forest Service will hold four off-road trail workshops on the next three Saturdays to discuss the proposed trail system for the Black Hills National Forest. All four workshops are 9 a.m. to noon. Rangers and staff from all four districts will answer questions, take suggestions and review maps.

The schedule is:

* Oct. 6: Hell Canyon Ranger District, Supervisor's Office, 1019 N. 5th Street, Custer.

* Oct. 13: Bearlodge Ranger District, 121 N. 21st St., Sundance, Wyo.

* Oct. 13: Mystic Ranger District, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City.

* Oct. 20: Northern Hills Ranger District, 2014 N. Main, Spearfish.

Comments on the trail system can be submitted to any ranger district any time until Nov. 13.

For details and a map of the proposed trail system, go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com