Management Proposals for the Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests, Public Hearing Notice

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multiple use principles set forth in the Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of 1960. These same multiple use principles are applicable and need to be applied to the entire Review Area in order to maintain and enhance the key values of the Area. The large acreage of land that passed into private ownership by mineral patent, over the past hundred years under the General Mining Act of 1872, poses some real problems in the coordination of activities on the National Forest lands. These problems include the maintenance and enhancement of the key values, and more specifically, the protection of an enduring resource of wilderness, if the Congress so designates. The management arrangement of all lands within the Review Area under existing, and /or new authorities, therefore, is critical to the coordina- tion efforts to protect the public interest within each of the four identified alternatives. Three options were identified and are outlined below, with impacts upon the private landowner varying with the degree of control imposed. 1. Maintain Total Local Jurisdiction of Private Lands This is the option which represents the status quo as to jurisdiction. Regulations already in force and those which may be initiated in the future by State and County governments would provide the needed environmental controls. Basic to the coordinated use and management of private and National Forest lands within the Review Area would be mutual agreement on key values and standards for use and development of all lands. The instrument for this would be a "cooperative agreement" between the six concerned Counties and the Forest Service. 2. Local Jurisdiction Within a Framework of Federal Standards This option would impose Federally approved zoning standards upon private lands. Regulations would be prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture specifying standards for management of National Forest lands as well as standards for ordinances to be enacted by local zoning authorities. In the absence of local ordinances, the Secretary of Agriculture would provide standards to be met by private landowners. This would require Federal legislation to accomplish. 3. Direct Federal Land Use Standards This option, too, would require Federal legislation and would impose Federally developed zoning upon private lands. In it, the Federal government would be responsible for development and imple- mentation of land use guides without local government approval. Under such zoning, private landowners could develop and use their properties in manners compatible to the Area's key values. -10-