Leopold's Legacy Threatened by Off-road Vehicles

The Gila National Forest in New Mexico is asking for public input on its travel-management plan. Unfortunately, there has been tremendous pressure from the well-funded off-road vehicle lobby to add unnecessary roads and trails and to continue the destructive practice of allowing cross-country driving in this important southwestern wilderness. We need your help to protect this forest from continued irresponsible management.

Please, take a moment now to edit the letter below, including your personal touch so the Forest Service will know you care deeply about the Gila National Forest, threatened and endangered species, and preserving the legacy of our national forests for future generations. Then, if you can, attend one of the public meetings throughout September and early October.

Please take action by October 31, 2009.

Photo: Off-road vehicle tracks in the San Francisco River, Gila National Forest by Grant Gourley.

The Center for Biological Diversity asks you to contact the Forest Service or attend one of the meetings in September and October and talk to the Forest Service about the following critical issues:

1. Protecting riparian areas: The San Francisco River and the Gila River are both pristine riparian corridors that must be protected from continued destruction by off-road vehicles. These areas should be completely off-limits to off-road motorized travel.

2. Motorized game retrieval: Ask the Gila National Forest to protect wildlife habitat by banning driving to pick up downed game. Hunters have been able to retrieve game without the use of ATVs for centuries, and it's not asking too much for them to continue to do so to protect game habitat.

3. Quiet recreation: The plan should preserve our recreation opportunities. Ask the Forest Service to make a plan that includes hiking trails and quiet areas for recreation.

4. Ask that user-created, motorized trails not be included in the travel plan, as this rewards illegal behavior and does little to encourage future compliance with the new rules.

5. Ask the Forest Service to develop a proposal that’s affordable and enforceable. Given the lack of funds for rule enforcement and maintenance of existing trails, it’s more than likely that the Forest Service won't be able to manage or enforce rules on additional routes to protect natural resources in the forest.

6. Motorized dispersed camping: Allowing an area along a road where people can drive to camp is unnecessary and will increase illegal roads into pristine wildlife habitat. Ask the Gila National Forest to approve access routes to established campsites, limit car camping to parking just one vehicle length off an open road, and prohibit routes and car-camping corridors next to wilderness and roadless areas.

7. Quality wildlife habitat: Ask that road densities not exceed one mile per square mile and that the Forest Service analyze road densities without including large roadless areas and wilderness areas in its calculations. The entire forest should be managed to provide quality wildlife habitat, and the Forest Service must consider the impacts of motorized recreation on the recently reintroduced Mexican gray wolf.

8. Share your personal concerns about off-road vehicles and the damage they cause to the forest. Tell the Gila National Forest about places that should not be used for motorized travel or that should be restored, and about experiences you've had in the forest that were ruined by off-road vehicles. Let the Forest Service know where you've seen illegal off-road vehicle activity and ask for increased enforcement of the ban on off-road vehicles.

We also ask you to contact the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and ask it to continue to support a ban on cross-country travel for game retrieval except in the case of mobility-impaired hunters. The Forest Service plan would allow driving up to one mile off any open road to pick up game despite the negative impacts this would have on game habitat and hunter success. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish needs to take a strong position against motorized game retrieval and needs your support to do it. Send an email to ispa@state.nm.us, call (505) 476-8000, or mail a letter to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish at P.O. Box 25112, Santa Fe, NM 87504.