End of the Road?

We were surprised to discover the District Ranger for the U.S. Forest Services does not plan to have a public meeting to discuss the road closures and decommissionings in the Medicine Bow Routt National Forest.

In the March 25 edition of the Saratoga Sun, we ran an article about the local forest service planning to decommission 97 miles of road.

The deadline to comment on the road closures is April 16, which is about one-and-one-half months before most of the roads in question are accessible because of snowpack.

We understand that the timing of the comments cannot match the limited summer months in which we have access to the forest and the timeframe in which the Forest Service has to complete their duties. This makes public meetings even more important.

Many residents know the roads like the back of their hands, but some of us do not.

Granted, there are some bad roads in the forest. We understand that maintaining these roads is expensive.

But to not have a public meeting because the District Ranger does not believe it will benefit her is not acceptable to us.

Public meetings are educational, not only for the public, but for all those involved. Reasonable solutions happen all the time in public meetings. Public meetings also allow the media to get the word out about concerns of residents.

So far, the District Ranger has had four “private group” meetings that we know of. Is that a good use of a public servant’s time, when the same amount of time could be used to reach several residents and forest users at one time.

In the meeting the Saratoga Sun did attend, the District Ranger explained the difficulties that Forest Service has serving the needs of the public on a shrinking budget.

For the most part, our local Forest Service does a good job, but we feel they dropped the ball on this one.

If you do not make your comments known to the local Forest Service, you will not have an opportunity to object to the decision.

Send a letter about your concerns to the Forest Service, and while you are at it, educate everyone else and send a copy to the Saratoga Sun.

Also, send a letter to your congressman asking that more money be allocated for forest management.