FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Roadless Act Input Sought by State

[Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew,

I have a lot of dealings with the Forest Service, most have not been 
good. When asked why they closed a road their reply was "Because we 
can." There have been a lot of people upset by Forest Service 
actions. That is one of the main reasons for the meeting tonight. If 
you do not get involved, then the next time you head to your favorite 
dark sky site and find the road blocked, you will probably not be 
happy.

Jeff

At 12:46 -0700 7/10/06, Andrew Goodwin wrote:
>      This could be a mute point as most of our current observing sites
>are on BLM land (Sentinel and the new towers site).
>The Cherry II and I sites are on "public use" land as administered by
>both the BLM and Prescott National Forest. My  (now  Rick's contact)
>has  said that there is no problem with using the two Cherry Rd sites.
>The 5 mile meadow (Buck Butte Meadow) site would be one possible site
>that might be effected but I don't think so as this has come up before
>when I attended NAU in Flagstaff and the roads of concern were mostly
>non passable except by the most die hard 4 wheel drivers and thus the
>reason to close some of these roads. According to sources there "the
>chance that we might be faced with another situation of a off roader
>being stuck and unable to call for help, is deemed to be  too great a
>risk"   Remember the two girls  stuck on a  road and almost died? The
>one girl had to have both of her lower legs removed due to frost bite.
>In most cases the forest service will down a tree across the road they
>wish to close and post a clearly designed sign. The often graded roads
>that we use will remain open except for the reason of fires and wildlife
>management. We should continue to foster a working relationship with the
>various agencies so they know who we are and what we do. (no camp fires
>and for the most part, non smokers) We leave the sites clean and free of
>litter. Only an occasional  hockey puck is left behind.
>
>Just some thoughts.
>
>Andrew Goodwin.

-- 
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
www.hposoft.com
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