Senate urges Forest Service to rein in off-roaders

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

1/28/2008 - 1/29/08

A coalition of conservationists, landowners and ranchers on Glorieta-Rowe Mesa, southeast of Santa Fe, want to send a message to the U.S. Forest Service: Get those off-roaders under control.

They blame off-highway vehicle enthusiasts for shot-up water tanks, cut fences and scared cows. "OHVs (off-highway vehicles) are destroying our grazing land, the grass, riding all over," said Jerry Varela, a grazing permittee with an allotment on the mesa. "It would be different if they would stay on the main roads."

Varela and a dozen others spoke Monday morning before the state Senate Rules Committee in favor of a nonbinding joint memorial that urges the U.S. Forest Service to take into account "traditional uses" of forest lands. All national forests in the country are creating travel management plans, which will determine on what roads and trails people can drive their four-wheelers, wood trucks and other motorized vehicles.

No one spoke against Senate Joint Memorial 13, sponsored by Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, and Rep. Jeannette O. Wallace, D-Los Alamos. The committee unanimously approved the memorial, which moves next to the Senate Conservation Committee on Thursday.

The travel management plan is needed because no Forest Service rules prevent cross-country travel by off-highway vehicles, and "cross-country travel destroys natural resources," Dolores Maese, the public information officer for Santa Fe National Forest, said after the hearing.

Griego told the committee he did not think the Forest Service had taken into account the input of ranchers and other traditional users of the area such as woodcutters. Instead, the memorial accuses the Forest Service of meeting with off-road vehicle groups and ignoring ranchers.

Santa Fe National Forest has yet to begin the formal travel plan process required under the National Environmental Policy Act. That will start in March, when the agency releases a draft "proposed action" map and seeks public comment, Maese said. It will take another year of public meetings and comments before a final map will dictate which roads and trails are open to vehicles at which times of year.

Over the last year and a half, the Forest Service has posted fliers in post offices and stores, held informal public meetings and sought information about existing roads and trails to place on preliminary maps, Maese said. Groups were free to contact the Forest Service and request meetings with staff members, she said. "We did not target any specific group," she said.

Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, a member of the committee, said he attended a meeting where "I was struck by just how arrogant the Forest Service was in dealing with people."

Marvin Romero, a resident of the mesa's west side near Cañoncito, said finding a place where off-road vehicles are welcome is a problem. "My kids have ATVs (all-terrain vehicles)," he said. "Even they complain about not having a place to ride."

Ronaldo Lynch, who ranches on the mesa, said the off-road vehicle problem isn't new, and he's dealt with it for more than a decade on the mesa and on state land he leased north of Española. He said off-road enthusiasts were always cutting his fences. "I had to buy an OHV to keep up with the fence cutters," he said. "It was a constant baby-sitting job."

Representatives from the New Mexico Farm Bureau, Cattle Growers Association and the Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts all spoke in favor of the memorial.

The ranchers and other landowners said they favor reducing the number of roads on the mesa, closing some seasonally to all but mesa residents or permittees and perhaps requiring a permit for all off-roaders to drive on the mesa.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.