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oo:;.{:S eLPwQSlLPlanA White River National Forest (I) Issue 4 February 2000 Dear Friends. I'd like to take this opportunity to update everyone on where we are in the planning process and where we aTe gomg. With the August /999 release of the draft Forest Plan documents, we had an extremely busy JalJ! We had a series of open houses and many meetings and presentations with interested indidduals and organiz.ation.s. In addition, we extended the comment period-Ihe comment period now ends May 9. 2000. In the draft. we recommended Alternative D as our preferred altemmive. This aJ/ernative was developed to ensure the wealth ofnatllral resource values are sfLStained 05 well as to prO\.jde for che established recreation and tourism benefits/or which the White River is so well known. This alternative recognizes thaI as our population increases and mountain communities continue to expand. pressure on National Forest lands will continue to intensify. Some constraints on recreation uses may be necessary to maintain the health of the land and ensure future enjoyment of the Forest. This recommendation is a long way from a decision. We will spend the next three months continuing to solicit comments and meeting with agencies and organi:ations to discuss issues that need to be addressed prior to developing the final planning documents. The planning process is working-we are receiving a lot of comments. I encourage everyone to review the alternatives and provide written comments on all altentativE's and topics of interest to you. Your comments will help us prepare the Revised Land and Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement. Please feel free to contact uS if you needfunher information or if you have questions. Thanks for )'our time. involvement and concern for the future of the White River National Forest. )!1c!,(/{ '1 f:t(( MARTHA 1. KETELLE Forest Supen'isor Comment Period Extended to May 91 Based on public and Congressional requests, the Forest has extended the comment period on the Proposed Revised Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and the accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to May 9, 2000. \Ve recognize how important the long.term management of the White River National Forest is to many of you. and we feel that the comment period extension will give everyone more time to adequately prepare their comments. The most valuable comments are those that contain specific infonnation focusing on Forest Plan issues and decisions. Comments that identify specific items within a certain alternative will help the Forest Planning Team write the final documents. So far we have received well over 2.000 comment letters from individuals, organizations. businesses, government agencies and elected officials! All the comments we receive will be reviewed as part of the content analysis process. This task identifies all comments and groups those that are similar together. The responses to these comments will be in an appendix to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). See Comments, page 2 Once a national monument, the Mount of the Holy Cross is now part of the Holy Cross Ranger District of the White River National Forest.