October 17, 2004 in Outdoors

Public can have a say on direction of forest plans

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The Colville, Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests are shifting into another gear on the road to revising their forest management plans.

Although forest officials have been working with user groups to outline specific issues, such as motorized use of recreational roads and trails, broader public meetings have been scheduled.

The first of a series of meetings is set for Monday, 7 p.m. at the Spokane County Extension Office, 222 N. Havana in Spokane.

This is the public’s chance to share their ideas on updating the plans to reflect social, economic and ecological changes that have occurred since the current forest management plans were approved about 15 years ago, forest officials said.

The work on revising the plans will continue for several years. A similar process is already under way on other neighboring forests, including the Idaho Panhandle, Kootenai and Clearwater.

At upcoming public meetings for the Colville, Okanogan and Wenatchee forests, officials will present an overview of expected changes to the forest plans before the floor is turned over to the public for their participation.

The agenda calls for participants to discuss and then map the activities they participate in while visiting the national forests.

“We plan to use the information we receive from people attending the public meetings to help develop land management allocations for the revised forest plans,” said Linda Fee, plan revision team member.

Comments can be made by phone, mail or e-mail, said Margaret Hartzell, plan revision team leader. “One of our intentions for holding public meetings is to provide interested people an opportunity to interact in person with us,” she added

Meetings are set to begin at 7 p.m. as follows:

Spokane — Monday, Spokane County Extension Office, 222 N. Havana.

Ione — Tuesday, Selkirk High School.

Colville — Wednesday, Colville community college campus, Dominion Room.

Newport — Thursday, north portable building at Halstead Middle School.

Yakima — Oct. 25, Red Lion Yakima Gateway Hotel, 9 N. 9th St.

Wenatchee — Oct. 26, Wenatchee Red Lion Hotel, 1255 N. Wenatchee Ave.

Okanogan — Nov. 3, Okanogan Fairgrounds Agriplex Annex.

Republic — Nov. 4, Republic Elementary School.

Tonasket — Nov. 8, Tonasket High School.

Methow Valley — Liberty Bell High School.

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