Several area residents split their opinions on the Idaho Roadless plan at a meeting held at Valley Count Courthouse in Cascade Monday night.
Those who believed the plan designated too many acres to roadless areas decried the lack of management. The comments will be analyzed and categorized by the Forest Service, Idaho Roadless Rule Team Leader Brad Gilbert said.
The comments will be responded to in a final environmental impact statement that could be out in the early fall, Gilbert said. April 7 is the last day to submit comments on the proposal.
Comments could cause the Forest Service to create a new alternative to the proposed plan, he said.
"The roadless designation will make it difficult for man to have a positive impact on the forest," McCall resident John Kwader said. "Either man or nature will manage our forests. Nature's style of management goes from one extreme to another."
"This country can ill-afford to let so much of our natural resources be wasted," Jim Jones of Lake Fork said. "We already have enough designated wilderness that you let burn."
Becky Johnstone of Secesh Meadows which was besieged by the East Zone Complex fire throughout the summer was concerned about the runoff this spring after the fire-devastated landscape was hit with a heavy snow year.
"We are waiting to see what happens with our spring runoff especially since we have an above average snow pack this year" Johnstone said. "We may not have to debate closing the roads in these roadless areas for long. Mother Nature may do the job for us."
Those who argued for more roadless areas argued for the areas to protect the forest from all-terrain vehicles and logging.
"Safeguarding the last remaining roadless areas is critical," Marilyn Olson of McCall said. "I want our most pristine forests kept in trust as a legacy for future generations, not sacrificed for short-term profit."
John Lewinski of McCall said he has shot 23 elk in 23 years. All of the elk were shot in roadless areas. He did not want new roads built that would allow access to all-terrain vehicles and logging.
"The fire interface is no excuse to build roads," Lewinski said. He went on to say the areas where forest fires threatened homes are sparsely populated and have been burned before.
"There's burning in these areas anyway; that is not an excuse to build roads," he said.
"I find it disturbing that we are trying to manage our national forests by proxy," John Humphries of McCall said. "Most of our natural resources have become so political that managers can't seem to even put into practice what they think is correct for the landscape."
"Our research shows the best fisheries habitat is protected by roadless lands," Idaho Trout Unlimited representative Scott Strouder of Pollock said. "Most of us come here for what Idaho is. It's wild land, a beautiful area."
The Forest Service announced its plans for protections and management of roadless areas in the state last month.
The plan is based on the state's petition submitted to the Forest Service in the fall of 2006, first tendered by then Gov. James Risch and endorsed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.
The meeting was opened by Valley County Commissioner Gordon Cruickshank. Gilbert and Tom Perry, legal counsel to Gov. Otter's office, conducted the public hearing.
On the Payette forest, more than 900,000 acres of national forest has previously been designated as roadless in 22 separate areas.
The state developed four categories for the roadless areas. ranging from de facto wilderness to areas that would be heavily logged.
Information on the plan is available at http://roadless.fs.fed.us/idaho/shtml.
