This was published on Friday February 26, 2010 in the Hot Springs Sentinel Record Lincoln hosts OHV meeting  MARK GREGORY Associate editor  The congressional delegations of two states are pulling together to ensure “reasonable” year-round access to the Wolf Pen Gap area of the Ouachita National Forest by off-highway vehicles.    U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said Thursday that she hosted a meeting in her office in Washington, D.C., Wednesday evening with U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-District 4, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, of Oklahoma, to discuss how to work together on the issue.    “The Oklahoma folks were pretty distressed, as well,” Lincoln said in a telephone interview Thursday.    “We’re going to continue to work together; we’re going to continue to stay on this issue. We’re going to push the administration to develop an approach that allows reasonable, year-round access to Wolf Pen Gap,” Lincoln said.    “The community (of Mena) was willing, and the community has been willing, to work with them on a plan that works for everybody. And I think that was obvious.”    Public use of OHVs, including allterrain vehicles, is now allowed in the ONF on routes and in cross-country travel, except for areas where it is specifically prohibited. OHV use is also prohibited on routes that are obviously closed or posted.    However, the Department of Agriculture in 2005 issued its Final Rule for Travel Management, which required each of the country’s 155 national forests to designate a travel system for motorized vehicles, including OHVs.    The ONF subsequently developed the Travel Management Project and released a Decision Notice on motorized travel, including off-highway vehicles, in early January. Out of eight alternatives developed as part of the TMP’s Environmental Assessment, the Forest Service selected Alternative E, which allows no cross-country travel, except for limited big game retrieval, and includes the addition of about 5.5 miles of non-system spur roads to provide motorized access to dispersed campsites.    Alternative E also limits OHV use on routes within the Wolf Pen Gap area to holidays and weekends from May 15 to Sept. 15, due to adverse effects on water quality through sedimentation that the Forest Service says is linked, in part, to OHV use in the area.    The Forest Service plans to implement the decision in April or May, barring an appeal that results in its being overturned and remanded.    Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday that 27 appeals have been filed against the decision notice, and a few more were expected.    Lincoln said Thursday that, in her opinion, reasonable access should “absolutely” include weekday access.    “You look at retired folks, you look at the veterans we’ve heard from. Those people are much more likely to want to go during the week than they are on the weekends when it’s more hectic and more congested, perhaps,” Lincoln said.    Reasonable access should also “certainly” include more year-round access, she said.    Lincoln, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she pressed Tidwell on Wednesday to “heed the interests of the local communities” and asked him to work with communities to reach a resolution on the issue.    “I reiterated to him that it came as a real shock to my constituents, because I think that’s something he needs to know – the way that it was handled. It’s not just the decision, but the way that it was handled is critically important.    “To get a decision to close the Wolf Pen Gap area for most of the year ... you miss turkey season, you miss spring break, you miss the fall foliage, you miss a lot when you close it down like that, particularly from a place that’s been available 24/7, 365 days out of the year,” she said.    “The local Forest Service (officials) had worked with the local folks to come up with something, and then to get something completely different out of Washington ... just wasn’t fair.”    Lincoln, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, met in late January with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack regarding the issue.    She said she also discussed the matter with Vice President Joe Biden during a visit Wednesday morning. “I brought this issue up and told him it was one of my top priorities,” she said.    The EA estimates the number of OHV users per year at 17,000. Since Alternative E limits OHV use on routes within the area to holidays and weekends from May 15 through Sept. 15, the Forest Service estimates the number of OHV users would drop to around 5,000 yearly, a reduction of 71 percent.    The Forest Service says in the EA that there are 16 businesses that provide lodging in the form of rooms, cabins, and recreational vehicle sites in close proximity to the Wolf Pen Gap area, with occupancy capacities that range from eight to 225.    “Even though OHV access would be provided from the Wolf Pen Gap area to other parts of the forest, so that lodgers could recreate in other areas during weekdays, it would still be expected that these local businesses would see a reduction in revenue under Alternative E,” the EA says.    Mena, which is about 8 miles northwest of the Wolf Pen Gap area, provides a close source for ATV rentals, fuel, restaurants, lodging and other retail amenities, the EA says.    One Mena motel owner estimated 20 to 30 percent of their business results from OHV tourism. “It would be expected that these Mena businesses would also see a reduction in revenue under Alternative E,” the EA says.    Lincoln said she visited with Mena officials while in Little Rock last week, and “they were just devastated. They said, ‘You know, we’re going to lose 50 percent of our revenue.’”

Lincoln Calls On Secretary of Agriculture to Reverse Wolf Pen Gap Closure

Says Access is Critical to Local Economy

Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Forest Service to reverse their decision to close areas of the Ouachita National Forest to off-highway vehicles. In a meeting with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today, Lincoln said plans to close the Wolf Pen Gap area to off-highway vehicles must be stopped in order to protect the local economies of Mena and other communities around the Ouachita National Forest area.

“Reasonable access to our nation’s public lands, for both jobs and recreation, is something many Arkansans depend upon. Tourism associated with off-highway vehicle use is important to the local economy in Mena and the surrounding communities, many of which have invested heavily in recreational businesses dependent upon the annual visitors to the Wolf Pen Gap trail system.  I firmly support the local community’s effort to reverse this decision and urge Secretary Vilsak and the Forest Service to work with the local community to develop a reasonable approach to balancing recreation and sound management of our precious natural resources”, said Lincoln.

 

Lincoln also met with Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell earlier this week to express concerns about the decision to close the Wolf Gap area. She sent a follow up letter to Tidwell echoing her concerns.