By Gary Meyer

The U.S. Forest Service has released its Draft Record of Decision (ROD) for Land Management Plan Amendment for Southern California’s forests, including the Los Padres National Forest.

A 60-day objection period began Friday, Jan. 17.

U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer Andrew Madsen told The Mountain Enterprise, “Objections can be submitted by entities and individuals who commented during the scoping period when we held public meetings in 2012 and 2013, two of which occurred in Frazier Park.”

Environmental watchdog group, Los Padres ForestWatch, has said that the ROD does not provide protection for any new wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest.

“We will continue to work with the Forest Service and other stakeholders to reverse this no-new-wilderness policy so that our local forest lands receive the protection they deserve,” ForestWatch’s Jeff Kuyper said in a press release last November.

For more information on the objection process, please visit the Forest Service National Objection webpage and select the link to the planning objections rules at 36 CFR 219:
http://www.fs.fed.us/objections/objections_related.php#app_work

The Draft RODs and Final SEIS can be found on the project webpage at: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35130 

The Proposed Amendment to the Land Management Plan is part of the Settlement Agreement approved January 3, 2011, in the case of California Resources Agency, et al vs. United States Department of Agriculture, and Center for Biological Diversity, et al vs. United States Department of Agriculture.

This is part of the January 17, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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