Important Land Use Request - North Lake Powell / Grand Staircase / Glen Canyon Rec

This is a folluwup to an earlier post. We are asking folks to writer letters, or folks in the SLC area to come for a letter writing and information party about this issue.

Letter Writing Party for the Glen Canyon Off-road Vehicle Management Plan/ DEIS
2/27/2014
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Come to a letter writing party for the Glen Canyon Off-road Vehicle Management Plan (DEIS)!

The letter writing party is sponsored by Expedition Utah, Rocky Mountain Extreme, and the Utah 4- Wheel Drive Association (U4WDA).

What: Come and write a comment letter on the Glen Canyon Off-road Vehicle Management Plan/DEIS! Includes free pizza!

When: Thursday, 2/27/2014, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: Larry H. Miller Jeep, 10905 Auto Mall Drive, Sandy, UT 84070

We expect to have a wifi hotspot available, so bring your laptop or other electronic typing device in order to submit your comments electronically. We expect to have at least one laptop computer available for those who cannot bring their own, but who wish to submit their comments electronically. We will provide pens and paper for those who wish to make handwritten comments. Representatives from Expedition Utah, Rocky Mountain Extreme, and U4WDA will be on hand to answer questions and provide guidance.

The letter- writing party will be during the U4WDA’s monthly Board of Directors meeting. Come for the letter writing and pizza, feel free to stay for the meeting if you like!

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Even if you can’t make the party, please be sure to still submit your comments!

Please send a copy of your comments to U4WDA at ront@u4wda.org. Sending copies of your comments to us is valuable in our overall efforts to keep public lands accessible to motorized recreation.

Submit your comments electronically at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=56859

or submit your comments by US Mail at:
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
ORV Plan/DEIS
PO Box 1507
Page, AZ 86040-1507

DEADLINE is Tuesday 3/4/2014, 11:59 PM (submitted or postmarked)

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Below are some items you may want to consider including in your written comments:

INTRODUCE YOURSELF: Describe how you use (or how you wish to use) the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Describe a trip you’ve taken to the area or a trip you plan to take to the area. Describe how four wheel drive access to the area impacts you and/or your family/friends. State that you support the position of Expedition Utah and/or Rocky Mountain Extreme and/or U4WDA and/or any other motorized recreation club or land use group that you know is submitting comments.

ALL ROUTES SHOULD REMAIN OPEN to motorized travel, including OHVs and street-legal ATVs. Describe specific routes/areas that you are familiar with and how important it is to you for those routes/ areas to remain open to motorized travel.

PERMITS, if implemented, should be simple, affordable, and without usage limits. Describe any concerns you may have about access to your favorite areas being restricted if a permit system were implemented.

OPEN OHV PLAY AREAS should remain unchanged. Describe your opinions on the importance of having play areas that are open to cross country OHV travel.

FUTURE ROUTES AND OHV PLAY AREAS should be open to discussion. Describe how having a system in place for creating new routes and new OHV play areas is important to you.

BE POLITE! Refrain from using rude or demeaning language in your comments. Compliment the park service if you feel they are doing a good job in any particular area. Do not give them an excuse to apply any kind negative stereotypes to the motorized recreation community.

Thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, hence the typos...

Thank you for posting this! What a great idea.


I just found out about it and have been communicating with the Blue Ribbon Coalition for input into my letter. Looks like a great outline in the first post.

Please attend and write a letter if you live in the area.

Vehicle access to Lake Powell should continue. Even if the lake is lower than full pool, you should still be allowed to camp along the edge of the lake from a vehicle.

I emailed a comment via the parks site.

Super appreciated - thanks guys...

Just a reminder that all letters need to be post marked no later than tomorrow. please keep them coming!

thanks,
Andre

Here is my letter. Feel free to poach it for comments for your own. Go here and submit your comments. Tomorrow is the last day!


Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
c/o Superintendent
PO Box 1508
Page, AZ 86040
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Re: Comments on the Off-road Vehicle Management Plan / Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Dear Superintendent:
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I lived in Page, AZ for about 10 years. During this time, I recreated in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area both on the water and on land. I explored the land areas of GCNRA on foot, with my 2wd car, 4wd SUV, OHV and street legal motorcycle. I camped on the shores of Lake Powell many times from small powerboats, houseboats and from my personal vehicle in Crosby Canyon. I visited lands in the area operated by the NPS, BLM, Navajo Nation, and other state and federal agencies. Currently, one of the ways I enjoy exploring and visiting public lands is on my 50 state street legal off-road motorcycle. I plan a loop route (last year it ended up being 1350 miles long) traveling thru mostly BLM and FS land in Northern Nevada. I carry camping supplies on my motorcycle and camp out along the route in areas where it is legal to do so. I stop in small towns along the route to purchase fuel and resupply with food and other necessities. It can be very difficult to coordinate the requirements of different pieces of land administered by the myriad of agencies we have here in the US ranging from federal to state to county to local agencies. Having a special permit required in a specific area is sometimes difficult to comply with based upon my often out-of-the-way and unconventional entrance to an area. This is a growing activity as more and more people try to get out to enjoy our public lands. One of the trips I am planning to do in the future includes an off-road route from Everett, WA thru Oregon and Nevada to Lake Powell and then back to Everett thru Utah and Idaho and Washington. I had planned to camp on the shore of Lake Powell at Crosby Canyon on this trip. If a permit is required for that access, how would I find out about it? Currently there is no NPS access station along Smoky Mountain Road.
I have several concerns about the various alternatives in the Off Road Vehicle Management Plan / Draft EIS currently available for review. Please remember that even though Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is administered by the National Park Service, it is a National Recreation Area, not a National Park or National Monument, and federal law mandates the NPS to provide for public outdoor recreation use and enjoyment of Lake Powell and lands adjacent thereto, and to preserve scenic, scientific, and historic features contributing to public enjoyment of the area. <o></o>
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These are some of the key items I would like to discuss:
1. Continued access to the water’s edge of Lake Powell regardless of lake elevation by motorized vehicles including OHVs at any location where their access is possible now at full pool. I understand that it is now possible for vehicles to drive in areas that were unimaginable previously due to the lowered lake levels. Perhaps some defined routes above and below full pool, education, law enforcement presence, facilities such as pit toilets or restrooms if practical, signage and physical blockades to undesired routes may help to curb use in areas that are outside the limits of the area the NPS designates? The gravel / dirt parking lots at Wahweap marina and at Stateline Marina are both in similar areas that would normally be well below full pool. I do not see how a permit system would provide any benefit in these areas.
2. Continued access to the water’s edge of Lake Powell regardless of lake elevation via Crosby Canyon for motorized vehicles including OHVs. This has long been a popular access point to Lake Powell for locals living in the Big Water area, Greenehaven, and Page. It is one of the first places I visited upon arriving in Page. I have heard that it is now possible to drive all the way out onto Antelope Island or way into Warm Creek from Crosby Canyon. As I mentioned in #1, defined routes above and below full pool, education, law enforcement presence, facilities such as pit toilets or restrooms if practical, signage, and physical blockades may be helpful to curb use where it is inappropriate. I do not think anyone should be driving to Antelope Island but access to the water’s edge close to Crosby Canyon should be allowed. The gravel / dirt parking lots at Wahweap marina and at Stateline Marina are both in similar areas that would normally be well below full pool. I do not see how a permit system would provide any benefit in these areas.
3. Continued access for OHVs and street-legal ATVs to the roads in the Orange Cliffs Unit. This is a remote area of dirt roads accessed from dirt roads from areas administered by other agencies. All access should be allowed to continue.
4. Continued OHV and street legal ATV access to the lands and roads outside the GCNRA on current roads thru it.
5. Continued OHV and street legal ATV access to all of the dirt roads currently open for use inside GCNRA.
6. Continued OHV and street legal ATV access to all 53 miles of routes in the Ferry Swale area including roads that access BLM roads outside of the GCNRA and also to the Ropes Trail down to the Colorado River south of Glen Canyon Dam. This area known locally as Dead Dog had been an area that local people have recreated in for years. A portion of it used to be the dump. It is mostly sand or slick rock and there is limited resource damage. I think a permit would make sense to use this area. It is close enough to civilization that it could be accessed for education, signage and enforcement.
7. No loss of area to a vehicle free zone at Lone Rock Beach. Lone Rock Beach has already been established as an OHV area and has already undergone its own planning cycle. There is no reason to reduce the area further.
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8. Most of the beach access areas listed in Table 3: Alternative Overview Matrix are in very remote areas or are accessed from the Navajo Reservation where there are not currently any NPS offices to issue permits. How will these permits be issued? I do not think a permit process will work very well to access these extremely remote areas. Often times a visitor will travel directly to a remote campsite without visiting a town along the way. What if someone came from Escalante along the Smoky Mountain road and then decided to drive their truck down to Crosby Canyon to have a swim or pitch his tent to camp? How would he be informed that he needs a permit? Where would he get one?
9. Non street legal OHVs should not be allowed to travel on paved roads inside of the developed areas of Wahweap (such as Lakeshore Drive). If it is decided to allow them inside the developed area, separate trails should be constructed parallel to the existing roads. There is far too much traffic on these roads to have the speed differential between OHVs and passenger cars.
Please do not share my personal information including my address, phone number and email address.
Please keep me informed about any planning occurring within GCNRA.
Thank you for this chance to comment.
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