Nye County District 1 Commissioner Lorinda Wichman wants the U.S. Forest Service to take the "no action" alternative on a proposed travel management plan for the Austin and Tonopah Ranger Districts.

The alternative would keep intact the current system of forest roads and trails including roughly 1,536 miles of what the USFS calls "unauthorized roads" that would remain open to motorized use.

In a letter dated March 10 addressed to Steve Williams, district ranger in Austin, Wichman wrote:

"It is unreasonable to expect the public to comment on a proposal that is not clearly illustrated within your publications. The maps of the Austin and Tonopah Ranger Districts that are available on your website are grossly inaccurate and at the very least lacking a true depiction of the area.

"Portions of deeded lands in the district are not shown on the maps, roads accessing deeded lands are not shown on the maps and the roads proposed to be closed are not shown on the maps."

Wichman said digital copies of maps sent by the Nye County Public Works Department in 2005 and 2008 showing all county maintained roads were not illustrated on Forest Service maps.

The Forest Service wants to adjust the forest transportation system by changing the designation of five forest system roads to trails and adding some unauthorized routes.

It lists 638 forest service roads totaling 1,608 miles in the Tonopah and Austin ranger district. Thirty forest service roads totaling 60 miles would be designated trails, of which 22 trails comprising 45.1 miles would be open to all motorized vehicles. The remaining seven trails, comprising 15.8 miles, would be open only for non-motorized use.

Of 24 unauthorized routes open to use totaling 15.5 miles, the Forest Service proposes to designate five routes as roads equalling less than a mile and 19 as trails traversing 12.6 miles. Motor vehicle use would be permitted on 18 trails.

Five current Forest Service routes would be closed. The USFS states the routes have been washed out or are impassable.

Federal regulations adopted on Nov. 9, 2005 provide that after designated roads, trails and areas are identified on a motor-vehicle use map, other motor vehicle uses not in accordance with those designations is prohibited unless authorized through forest service contracts, permits, plans or exempted activities.

The Forest Service states the changes would reduce erosion on steep slopes; reduce impacts to vegetation from development of unauthorized roads; prevent the spread of noxious weeds on roads and improve wildlife habitat for species like the greater sage grouse, pygmy rabbit, mule deer, northern goshawk and yellow warbler.

Motorized roads and trails will not be designated next to Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat or the Columbia spotted frog in the Reese River watershed.

The plan doesn't include designation of off-highway vehicle areas or retrieving game off designated routes.

The Forest Service said the proposed action will not result in increases or decreases in population or employment or increase county expenditures as roads would be maintained by it.

Besides a general disagreement, Wichman outlined some specific concerns with the map of a road surounding her home on Anderson Creek, which she said is incorrectly designated as inventoried roadless area. The road was established prior to 1906, the creation of the U.S. Forest Service, and is used to maintain water rights to irrigate the Anderson Creek homestead, she wrote.

The maps also don't reflect a main road into the property which is legally registered with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management by a permitted right-of-way, is maintained by Nye County and included in the county inventory provided to the Forest Service, Wichman wrote.

"I submit to you that placing a label on an area such as inventoried roadless does not make it so. If it did make it so, I would like to label the Smoky Valley floor as beach front," she wrote.

Wichman said the map also incorrectly still lists Road Canyon as an accessible route from Smoky Valley to Monitor Valley, but it was an old wagon trail that washed out decades ago.

"In discussions with other residents of the district, I have found Anderson Creek is not unique. On the published maps there are many similar discrepancies in the area. That leads one to believe that the percentage of discrepancies throughout your travel management project must be very high," Wichman wrote.

The environmental analysis, which points to existing roads reducing potential wildlife habitat, doesn't account for the fact the actual acreages for roads are much less than land surface disturbances, Wichman said. She added roads submitted for closure are very low-speed roads which would make it nearly impossible for motorists to kill birds, she said.

"I would like to suggest that road closures be considered only after public hearings on the affected areas and only after the public's concerns have been properly and completely incorporated on the USFS Travel Management Project maps," Wichman wrote.

Comments may be submitted to: District Ranger, Austin and Tonopah Ranger Districts, 100 Midas Canyon Road, P.O. Box 130, Austin, NV 89310 or faxed to 1-775-964-1451.

Anyone who wants more information may contact James Winfrey, project manager, at 1-775-355-5308.