Shoshone National Forest Seeks Comments on Future Motorized Vehicle Access

If you have an opinion on vehicles in Shoshone National Forest, now’s the time to speak up.

Forest officials are moving forward with their Travel Management Planning process. Started in June of 2015, this process will designate a sustainable system of roads, trails, and areas that are open for motor vehicle use with public involvement. After years of planning and drafting, the Forest released their Preliminary Environmental Assessment last Thursday, July 30^th, bases on past proposals and how those have impacted forest resources. They say this analysis and any additional public input will inform the final determination of motorized use throughout the forest. The Preliminary Environmental Assessment explains the impacts of these proposals to forest resources and includes a budgetary assessment.

There are several ways to offer your opinion on the plan during the currently open public comment period, but your comments should be submitted in writing in either of these ways:

• send an email to FS.shonfcomment@usda.gov with “Shoshone NF Travel Management Planning Project” in the subject line, or
• via regular mail to Mark Foster (Environmental Coordinator), Shoshone National Forest, 808 Meadow Lane Avenue, Cody, WY 82414

In addition, there will be a series of virtual meetings held starting next week in each of the affected districts:

• North Zone (Clarks Fork, Greybull, and Wapiti districts) – August 11^th from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
• Washakie District – August 12^th from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
• Wind River District – August 13^th from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm

More details on these meetings and where you can join the virtual discussion will be released soon. Regardless,  it’s an important opportunity to determine how motor vehicles are used in Shoshone National Forest in the years to come.