The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is in the process of writing a new Land and Resource Management plan and is inviting the public to comment on the Proposed Plan and draft Environment Impact Statement. The AWSC has identified several issues in the Proposed Plan that will affect snowmobile access in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forests. We need to have you pass this information on to your club members so we can get as many people as possible to send in comments to the Forest Service. The trails we have in the National Forest are an important part of our trail system we have in Wisconsin and we have to make sure the Forest Service recognizes there are issues that will have an effect on snowmobiling in the Forest. The deadline for comments is July 11, 2003, so please don’t delay.

When commenting on the proposed plan, you will want to address the following issues:

• The data used to project the need for motorized sports is from 1997 and does not recognize the large increase in registrations in the past 5 years.
• Nowhere in the plan or DEIS does it address the possible need for new snowmobile trail mileage and a provision should be included that would allow clubs to work with local Forest Service personnel to add additional trails where needed.
• We are concerned over the large increase in non-motorized areas, more than double that currently exists. The language in the plan is very vague regarding trails in these areas and we are recommending that it clearly states that all existing trails in non-motorized areas be allowed to stay where they are unless all parties involved agree on a reasonable alternative route.
• We are also opposed to any increase in wilderness areas and feel the current 44,000 acres is more than adequate. Only Congress can designate wilderness areas and wild, scenic and recreational rivers and no motorized use would be allowed in this area once designated. The proposed plan essentially designates these areas as defacto wilderness, regardless of whether Congress acts on these designations.
• The proposed plan calls for the elimination of thousands of miles of existing roads. Many of these roads could be used as future trails when rerouting trails or creating new ones and when unplowed, are legally open to snowmobiling.
• It is the AWSC’s position that the Forest Service has violated the NEPA regulations by failing to provide a reasonable range of alternatives. The alternatives do not give a fair and equal consideration to multiple use of the forests for purposes which include hunting, motorized recreation, and timber production instead favoring set asides, no harvest zones, limits on reasonable motorized access to the forests and fail to carefully consider the negative economic and social impacts. For these reasons, the AWSC will not support any of the alternatives considered in the DEIS.

Thank you for your help and don’t forget the deadline for comments is July 11^th. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Please send comments to the address below.

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest Plan Revision DEIS

P.O. Box 221090 Fax: 801-517-1014

Salt Lake City, UT 84122-1090 Email: chequamegonnicolet@fs.fed.us

Dave Newman, Legislative Chairman Donna White, President

715-223-4051 920-348-5719