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<br />,Front page story <br />GQ?S30 <br /> <br />Page 2 on <br /> <br />"Agency comments have to be published in total in the final <br />forest plan document, and that carries a lot of weight," <br />Honnaechea said. "Comments that come from an individual <br />simply get a letter number. Nonetheless, the comments would <br />still have to be analyzed and dealt with." <br /> <br />DOW's strongest comments on road closures. logging, aerial <br />tramways and wildlife conflicts were not included in the final, <br />official state conunents. <br /> <br />Although DOW staffers offered a strong endorsement of the <br />Forest Service's preferred Plan D, Walcher did not endorse <br />any of the six alternatives in the draft forest plan. <br /> <br />"I cannot in good conscience say the state endorses one <br />alternative when we have other divisions that say differently," <br />he said. <br /> <br />While Walcher commended Division of Wildlife staffers for <br />doing "extremely good work" on their comments, he said their <br />opinions weren't always matched by those coming from the <br />Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation and forest user <br />groups. <br /> <br />"These comments don't represent just our agency employees. <br />They represent the public as well. I've gotten a lot of <br />correspondence from valious forest user groups. <br /> <br />"I tried to strike the balance between a philosophy of closing <br />all roads for wildlife and the importance of leaving roads open <br />for recreational users," he said. <br /> <br />He noted that references to Vail's Westin ski lift, which the <br />Division of Wildlife used as an example of how aerial <br />tramways infiinge on elk habitat, were dropped to avoid <br />"bashing a particular constituent for what has gone on in the <br />past." <br /> <br />Walcher said he considered the idea of submitting the wider <br />range of comments from the three state divisions. But <br />conversations with Regional Forester Lyle Laverty convinced <br />him to take a more definite stand on forest plan issues. <br /> <br />"It's no help to the Forest Service to say, 'Here's a bunch of <br />contradictory stuff. Now, you figure out what to do.' That <br />really isn't advice, " Walcher said. <br /> <br />He said he stepped up the schedule to submit the state's <br />comments more than four months ahead of the Forest Service <br />deadline in order to end "rampant speculation about what we <br />were and were not going to say." <br /> <br />"I'm not trying to be apologetic about this. We tried to <br /> <br />http://www.glenwoodindependent.com/fpcO I 0600.html <br /> <br />01/06/2000 <br />