JoseCuervo
New member
Despite the Gunner's comments to the Forest Service, the Agency has decided we need more Jet Boat Traffic in the Frank Church. Funny how some here claim Wilderness=Locked up. But this new decision allows even more Jet Boat traffic. R-I-P the Frank.
Supervisors approve revised Frank Church Wilderness plan
By BUDDY SMITH
Ravalli Republic
Supervisors of four national forests have signed off on a revised management plan for central Idaho’s 4.2 million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
The wilderness plan, a decade in the making, includes increases in Salmon River jet boat use by allowing the boats to stay longer, changes in float boating on the Salmon’s main and middle forks and changes at wilderness airstrips. It also provides broad direction to forest managers.
“This will set the stage for the next 10 to 15 years,” said Kent Fullenbach, spokesman for the Salmon-Challis National Forest. “It will be the plan we manage the wilderness by.”
Last month, supervisors from the Salmon-Challis, Payette, Nez Perce and Bitterroot national forests, which manage the lower 48’s largest wilderness, signed a “Record of Decision,” which follows an environmental impact statement issued in September. Officials selected “Alternative D,” with some modification.
Two of the major issues in the plan have to do with river use. For private jet boats, the previous plan had a system that allowed 15 “boat-use days” per week, which could be played out in several combinations.
While the revised plan limits to six the number of boats that can be on the water at one time, the power boats can be either single-day or overnight trips and can stay up to seven days, for a total of 42 “boat-use days” a week.
“It depends on how you’re looking at it,” Fullenbach said. “If you look at boat-use days, it’s a fairly substantial increase. If you look at how many boats can be on the water at one time, it’s not much of an increase.”
The previous plan allowed up to 15 boats on the water at one time, he said, “and that could be one day a week and no more boats the rest of the week.”
The motorized boats are allowed in the Frank Church-River of No Return under a provision of the Central Idaho Wilderness Act, which prohibited the agency from restricting their use below 1978 levels, Fullenbach said.
“What we’re doing is we’re giving them an increase in their opportunities to get on the river,” Fullenbach said. “We’re increasing the number of jet-boat days they can have on the river.”
The plan provides no increase in commercial jet boat use.
Another change in management is a “variable trip length option” for the Middle Fork and main Salmon River float boating. From June 20 through Sept. 7, it will allow commercial and non-commercial parties to choose their party size with a corresponding length of stay that varies between six and eight days, with smaller groups allowed longer stays, the agency said.
“It says keep the same number of launches we have right now, but if you are going to take a large group down the river, you can only stay for six days, a medium-sized group for seven days and a small group for eight days,” Fullenbach said.
Based on input from the public, officials said, the revised plan will allow some limited exceptions under special circumstances. The change is aimed at easing crowding, particularly at campsites.
The previous plan had “potential for a lot more use than what the rivers are getting now,” Fullenbach said. “Our concern is we can handle about what we’re getting right now.”
Currently, the average party size for floating is about a dozen people and the average length of stay is a little over seven days, according to Fullenbach.
“So it’s not going to have a lot of effect on the way most people float the river, but you could have some users who take larger parties and stay a longer time and it will affect them,” he said.
Meanwhile, four backcountry airstrips in the Payette National Forest will be maintained for emergency use only, but public use will be discouraged, the Forest Service said. Currently, the agency provides no maintenance for the Dewy Moore, Mile-Hi, Simonds and Vines landing strips.
Officials say more than 3,500 people commented during the decade the plan was developed. The decision “strikes a balance between competing demands expressed by many people,” said Spike Thompson, acting supervisor for the Salmon-Challis Forest, in a statement.
“It addresses Americans’ needs and desires for use and protection of this wilderness and the mandate we have for managing wilderness resource values.”
Officials say the plan can incorporates an “adaptive management and monitoring strategy.”
But many people have different opinions of wilderness management and Fullenbach acknowledged that the revised plan will be viewed positively by some, but criticized by others as the agency tries to balance management and use important to different interest groups, ranging from wilderness advocates to pilots to river recreationists.
The change in jet boat use, for example, is perhaps among the most contentious in the plan.
“If you were a float boater it’s a very significant increase; if you’re a jet-boater, it’s probably not enough,” Fullenbach said.
“So every issue we’ve got out there is going to have some disagreements,” he said.
Another change will close to motorized use year-round the Painter Bar Road upriver of the Mackay Bar Campground except as allowed under special-use permits.
The area once held four patented mining claims under private ownership, but the land was recently purchased by the Forest Service, Fullenbach said.
The decision amends forest plans for the Boise, Bitterroot, Nez Perce, Payette and Salmon-Challis forests and revises and consolidates into a single document the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness management plan and management direction for the Middle Fork Wild and Scenic River and the Salmon Wild and Scenic River.
The supervisors’ decision Nov. 20 is subject to a 45-day appeal period, which was to begin after publication of a legal notice, expected Dec. 18.
Supervisors approve revised Frank Church Wilderness plan
By BUDDY SMITH
Ravalli Republic
Supervisors of four national forests have signed off on a revised management plan for central Idaho’s 4.2 million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
The wilderness plan, a decade in the making, includes increases in Salmon River jet boat use by allowing the boats to stay longer, changes in float boating on the Salmon’s main and middle forks and changes at wilderness airstrips. It also provides broad direction to forest managers.
“This will set the stage for the next 10 to 15 years,” said Kent Fullenbach, spokesman for the Salmon-Challis National Forest. “It will be the plan we manage the wilderness by.”
Last month, supervisors from the Salmon-Challis, Payette, Nez Perce and Bitterroot national forests, which manage the lower 48’s largest wilderness, signed a “Record of Decision,” which follows an environmental impact statement issued in September. Officials selected “Alternative D,” with some modification.
Two of the major issues in the plan have to do with river use. For private jet boats, the previous plan had a system that allowed 15 “boat-use days” per week, which could be played out in several combinations.
While the revised plan limits to six the number of boats that can be on the water at one time, the power boats can be either single-day or overnight trips and can stay up to seven days, for a total of 42 “boat-use days” a week.
“It depends on how you’re looking at it,” Fullenbach said. “If you look at boat-use days, it’s a fairly substantial increase. If you look at how many boats can be on the water at one time, it’s not much of an increase.”
The previous plan allowed up to 15 boats on the water at one time, he said, “and that could be one day a week and no more boats the rest of the week.”
The motorized boats are allowed in the Frank Church-River of No Return under a provision of the Central Idaho Wilderness Act, which prohibited the agency from restricting their use below 1978 levels, Fullenbach said.
“What we’re doing is we’re giving them an increase in their opportunities to get on the river,” Fullenbach said. “We’re increasing the number of jet-boat days they can have on the river.”
The plan provides no increase in commercial jet boat use.
Another change in management is a “variable trip length option” for the Middle Fork and main Salmon River float boating. From June 20 through Sept. 7, it will allow commercial and non-commercial parties to choose their party size with a corresponding length of stay that varies between six and eight days, with smaller groups allowed longer stays, the agency said.
“It says keep the same number of launches we have right now, but if you are going to take a large group down the river, you can only stay for six days, a medium-sized group for seven days and a small group for eight days,” Fullenbach said.
Based on input from the public, officials said, the revised plan will allow some limited exceptions under special circumstances. The change is aimed at easing crowding, particularly at campsites.
The previous plan had “potential for a lot more use than what the rivers are getting now,” Fullenbach said. “Our concern is we can handle about what we’re getting right now.”
Currently, the average party size for floating is about a dozen people and the average length of stay is a little over seven days, according to Fullenbach.
“So it’s not going to have a lot of effect on the way most people float the river, but you could have some users who take larger parties and stay a longer time and it will affect them,” he said.
Meanwhile, four backcountry airstrips in the Payette National Forest will be maintained for emergency use only, but public use will be discouraged, the Forest Service said. Currently, the agency provides no maintenance for the Dewy Moore, Mile-Hi, Simonds and Vines landing strips.
Officials say more than 3,500 people commented during the decade the plan was developed. The decision “strikes a balance between competing demands expressed by many people,” said Spike Thompson, acting supervisor for the Salmon-Challis Forest, in a statement.
“It addresses Americans’ needs and desires for use and protection of this wilderness and the mandate we have for managing wilderness resource values.”
Officials say the plan can incorporates an “adaptive management and monitoring strategy.”
But many people have different opinions of wilderness management and Fullenbach acknowledged that the revised plan will be viewed positively by some, but criticized by others as the agency tries to balance management and use important to different interest groups, ranging from wilderness advocates to pilots to river recreationists.
The change in jet boat use, for example, is perhaps among the most contentious in the plan.
“If you were a float boater it’s a very significant increase; if you’re a jet-boater, it’s probably not enough,” Fullenbach said.
“So every issue we’ve got out there is going to have some disagreements,” he said.
Another change will close to motorized use year-round the Painter Bar Road upriver of the Mackay Bar Campground except as allowed under special-use permits.
The area once held four patented mining claims under private ownership, but the land was recently purchased by the Forest Service, Fullenbach said.
The decision amends forest plans for the Boise, Bitterroot, Nez Perce, Payette and Salmon-Challis forests and revises and consolidates into a single document the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness management plan and management direction for the Middle Fork Wild and Scenic River and the Salmon Wild and Scenic River.
The supervisors’ decision Nov. 20 is subject to a 45-day appeal period, which was to begin after publication of a legal notice, expected Dec. 18.
