GMUG releases draft forest plan for public review

By DENNIS WEBB Dennis.Webb@gjsentinel.com @ The Grand Junction Sentinel Daily

The U.S. Forest Service has released its draft revised plan for managing the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, an action likely to be followed by intensified debate over how things such as logging, recreation and wildlife habitat should be managed on those forests in coming years.

A 90-day public comment on the proposal begins today, but the agency already is hearing concerns about it from four counties who say the proposal does things such as declare too much acreage as suitable for logging.

The three national forests that are jointly administered and collectively known as the GMUG cumulatively encompass some 3 million acres in Mesa, Delta, Montrose, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray, San Miguel, Saguache and Garfield counties. Previous comment periods leading up to the release of the draft plan already have resulted in more than 10,000 public comments being submitted to the agency.

“The (GMUG) planning team has been working steadily over the past several years to build this draft revised forest plan,” GMUG Forest Planner Samantha Staley said in a news release Thursday. “The planning team has been working steadily over the past several years to build this draft revised forest plan. We believe the range of alternatives reflect the public’s input, but it’s time again to check in with our local communities and the broader public. We want to build a shared understanding of what an integrated and strategic forest plan can be.”

The draft plan and the draft environmental impact statement analyzing four management alternatives may be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/gmug/forestplan. There, a link contains more information on participating in two webinars next Tuesday and Thursday during which the Forest Service will provide more information on its proposal. The link also has information on five virtual open houses to be held in September, including one Sept. 9 hosted by the Grand Valley Ranger District.

The alternatives released by the Forest Service include one they have identified as their preferred one — an updated version of one previously released for public comment as a working draft plan.

Ouray, Gunnison, Hinsdale and San Miguel county commissioners, who were given an early look at the draft plan, have written to the Forest Service to say they can’t support it as is. They said in their letter that they want more climate-change analysis, adequate consideration of management designations proposed in the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy Act, the lack of “socioeconomic analysis that considers the multiple uses of the forests including recreational opportunities and ecosystem services benefits,” and the proposal’s “significant increase in suitable timber, which is a designation that interferes with consideration of responsible management of the forests that allow uses other than timber production.”

The preferred alternative identifies 948,200 acres of land as suitable for timber production, compared to 550,000 acres currently.

The draft plan says that the “GMUG’s timber program plays an important role in maintaining the viability of the timber industry in the State of Colorado. The largest remaining sawmill in Colorado is located in Montrose and obtains its wood fiber within a 400-mile radius.”

The preferred alternative calls for 34,000 acres of new wilderness acreage.

A more conservation-oriented alternative the Forest Service also is analyzing identifies 261,000 acres for possible wilderness designation.

Matt Reed, public lands director for High Country Conservation Advocates in Crested Butte, said conservation groups had been concerned with the lack of additional wilderness acreage or adequate protections of wildlife and wildlife habitat in the 2019 working plan that is the basis for the newly released proposal. He was just beginning to review the new proposal Thursday afternoon.

“I’m very much hoping that this plan goes in a better direction than we saw last in 2019, and that’s what I’ll be looking at,” he said.

Public comments on the plan are due by Nov. 12. They may be filed online at http://fs.usda.gov/goto/gmug/forestplan_comments, emailed to gmugforestplan@usda.gov, faxed to 970-874-6698 or mailed to 2250 South Main St., Delta, CO 81416.