Fierce opposition has delayed a Forest Service plan
to close 210 miles of old logging roads in southwestern
Utah.
Local residents wrote letters, circulated
petitions and turned out in large numbers for public meetings in
Cedar City and Kanab last month, protesting the proposed limits on
motorized access to the Dixie National
Forest.
“We’ve gotten over 170 written responses
to our scoping letter. That’s more responses than we received for
any timber sale I know of,” says Craig Kendall, a Dixie
hydrologist.
In some parts of the forest, road
density is more than twice the two miles of road per square mile
standard set by the Forest Service, and maintenance costs threaten
to bust the forest’s budget. The proposed road closures were
intended to restore degraded wildlife habitat and water quality in
some heavily roaded areas.
Because of the outcry,
Dixie officials plan to set up a “collaborative working group” that
includes landowners, off-road vehicle users and
environmentalists.
Kendall says that at least
some of the roads will eventually be closed, probably next year.
But the delay has disappointed environmental groups, who had
praised the road closure plan.
“(The proposal)
was the best thing to come out of Dixie for a long time. We’re
disappointed that they’re not going ahead,” says Liz Thomas of the
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “They’re not in compliance with
their Forest Service plan. Water quality is being degraded; habitat
is being impacted. That’s not acceptable.”
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Lisa Church
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Locals rebel against road closures.
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