Alternative refinement Workshop
July 14
2 PM - 8 PM
Forest Service Supervisor's Office
5162 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, Va. 24019
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A very important event will occur on July 14, as
the Forest Service (FS) unveils its ideas for at least six
alternatives for the George Washington National Forest's 15-Year
plan revision. This is your opportunity to learn about them, to
discuss them with the Forest Service, and to encourage the Forest
Service to develop strong alternatives that will protect the
resources of this 1.1 million acre national forest.
Tell the Forest Service that alternatives should include a
serious, credible alternative that would:
· Protect all areas identified in the Virginia’s
Mountain Treasures publication by designating them as
unsuitable for timber harvest, new roadbuilding, and
surface-occupying oil and gas drilling
· Plan for climate change by protecting core wilderness
areas, reducing forest fragmentation and decreasing and
eliminating non-climate stresses such as logging, road
building and oil and gas leasing
· Identify all qualified roadless areas and protect all
roadless areas, whether previously inventoried or
recently identified, consistent with the provisions of
the 2001 Roadless Rule
· Protect the Shenandoah Mountain Area for its unique
ecological and recreational attributes by endorsing the
proposal for a National Scenic Area on Shenandoah
Mountain as described on the Friends of Shenandoah
Mountain Website: http://www.friendsofshenandoahmountain.org/
· Protect all existing Old Growth forest
· Protect all watersheds especially those that directly
supply drinking water
· Protect and buffer all “Special Biological Areas”
· Protect sufficient habitat for all endangered,
threatened and rare species—especially the Wood
Turtle, the Cow Knob Salamander, Cerulean Warbler, and
Indiana Bat
· Recommend substantially more areas for wilderness and
for national scenic area designation than the small
increase in wilderness the Forest Service has suggested
so far. |
In addition, tell the Forest Service to incorporate all
of the above elements into the agency's proposed
alternative, Alternative B.
The current alternatives being developed by the Forest Service
are:
(Alternative A) No Action [Same Management as Existing 1993 Plan]
(Alt. B) the Forest Service's March 2010 Proposed Alternative
(Alt. C) Natural Processes/Nonmotorized Recreation
(Alt. D) Goods and Services/Motorized Recreation/Timber/Tourism
(Alt. E) Active Restoration/Climate Change Adaptation, and
(Alt F) Motorized and Nonmotorized Recreation Blend.
Some of these alternatives, such as (Alt. C) Natural
Processes/Nonmotorized Recreation and (Alt. E) Active
Restoration/Climate Change Adaptation may contain some or many of
the protective elements we have long been advocating for. There
is no way to tell until the FS's ideas are unveiled on July 14.
And other alternatives may contain elements that emphasize
roadbuilding and extractive development, such as (Alt. D) Goods
and Services/Motorized Recreation/Timber/Tourism, or perhaps even
( Alt. B) the Forest Service's March 2010 Proposed Alternative!
That is why it is important for many people from the conservation
community to attend this meeting, and to speak out
for wildlife, backcountry recreation, clean water, and wild
forests.
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The meeting:
Karen Overcash of the FS describes the meeting like so: "We
would very much like for you to come to this 'expanded' IDT
meeting/workshop - that will be from 2pm to 8pm in the
Supervisor's Office in Roanoke. The purpose will be to
work together on reviewing the current list of alternatives and
suggest modifications or additions. We won't have any 'fully
developed' alternatives at that time but we would like to talk
about specific areas of the forest and how they might fit into
various alternatives. There will be no specific
times/topics/presentations and people can come in whenever it is
convenient to discuss these preliminary alternatives with the
IDT. ....We might be wrong, but instead of doing that in
different locations around the forest to try to provide better
access to everyone, we would like to try this - where hopefully
the people who are truly interested in digging into the details
of the alternatives could come and work together with us."
Further information on the meeting from the FS's website, and
directions:
Alternative refinement Workshop-
July 14
2 PM - 8 PM
Forest Service Supervisor's Office
5162 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, Va. 24019
Directions:
On July 14. 2010 our Interdisciplinary Team will be meeting to
refine the alternatives to be addressed in our Environmental
Impact Statement. We will expand this meeting into a public
workshop. The workshop will begin at 2:00 p.m. and last until
8:00 p.m. The purpose of the workshop is to give interested
parties the opportunity to review the current list of
alternatives and suggest modifications or additions to the
alternatives. There will be no presentations. People can come in
at any time during the workshop/meeting. This will be a working
session where people can discuss the alternatives with
individuals on the Interdisciplinary Team to help further refine
the details of the alternatives. We will meet in the conference
room of the Forest Supervisor's Office in Roanoke (5162
Valleypointe Parkway). As we get closer to July 14, we will post
more information on the issues and draft alternatives for your
review. Contact Karen Overcash at 540-265-5175 if you have
questions about the workshop.
U.S. Forest Service Home Page http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/
GW-JNF Plan Revision webpage http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/forestplan/revision/index.shtml
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