Commissioners seeking public input on roadless issue

Clearwater County Commissioners along with their counterparts from Idaho County are holding public information meetings and seeking input from local citizens on plans for the roadless areas in the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forest.

The Bush Administration and Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne have stated a desire to give local citizens a voice in the management of U.S. Forest Service roadless lands within their counties. Commissioners from Clearwater and Idaho counties have scheduled a series of informal public meetings to assist people who wish to comment on the U.S. Forest Service roadless areas proposal for the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests.

Clearwater County Commission Chair Don Ebert said he hopes to expand his understanding of how people in the county want their forests to be used. A thorough understanding of the comments could help them understand something they have missed, he added.

Clearwater County Commissioner Stan Leach said he hopes there is enough of a turn out to clearly show them the direction local people want to go. Commissioner Pete Curfman echoed their comments and added that it will be the only chance local people will have to comment.

Idaho and Clearwater Counties have approximately 1,490,179 acres within 35 designated roadless areas. As part of revising the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forest Plans, the Forest Service proposes to decrease designated roadless acres by roughly 24,000 acres.

The "Roadless" informational meetings for the public are designed to gather information, review maps, pick up comment forms, and learn how to submit written comment on these roadless areas. The meetings will be from 6-8 p.m. in the following areas:

• Grangeville - Thursday, Nov. 3 at the Super 8 Motel
• Kooskia - Monday, Nov. 7 at the Community Hall
• Weippe/Pierce - Wednesday, Nov. 9 at Timberline High School
• Orofino - Thursday, Nov. 10 at Orofino High School

These are informational meetings only - there will not be a time allotted for oral comments - all comments must be made in writing. Ebert said the commissioners will take the public comments and use them to prepare comments to be sent to the Idaho Office of Species Management.

Ebert feels that if the comments sent in by the commissioners are professional and good enough, they can send those on to the federal government and they may one day become the guiding document for forests. They do need people's help.

Leach feels that there are a lot of people that are very familiar with areas on the forests and they have in mind how they think the land should be used. Those are the "people we need to hear from". At issue is what is going to be allowed on the forest.

Curfman said he could not stress the need for public comment enough.

For those who are not able to attend one of the public meetings, the maps and comment forms will be available at the Idaho County and Clearwater County Commissioners' offices after Nov. 14. People can also go online to review and print off the maps and comment forms. The web address for the Clearwater County web address is: www.clearwatercounty.org and Idaho County's is: www.idahocounty.org. The information should be on these web sites after Nov. 1.

Written comments are to be submitted to the Clearwater County Commissioners for areas of the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forest that are located in Clearwater County. Written comments are to be submitted to the Idaho County Commissioners for areas of the Nezperce and Clearwater National Forest that are located in Idaho County. Comments should be submitted to both offices for those areas lying within both counties. The deadline for written comments to be submitted to the commissioners is Dec. 15, 2005. Comments can be mailed to the Clearwater County Commissioners at P.O. Box 586, Orofino, ID 83544 and to the Idaho County Commissioners at 320 W. Main, Grangeville, ID 83530.

After citizen comments have been received the county commissioners will compile this information into a final roadless recommendation for each management area and submit it to the governor by March 1, 2006.