Wick Communications Environmental Liaison

The Coronado National Forest will be holding a series of public meetings during November on the creation of a new Forest Plan to replace the current 1986 document that governs policy concerning recreation, mining, hunting and mineral leases.    The document was revised and amended several times between 1986 and 2005.

The meetings will take place from November 5-22 at the locations listed below and will seek input on changes needed to create a new plan.  The Coronado website suggests that the initial process of developing a revised plan should take approximately two years and adds, “We are in the process of identifying things that should be addressed during the revision process. You may be tempted to jump right to solutions. We can’t develop good solutions unless we understand the problem. Please focus on problem identification at this time.”

A concern related to the creation of the Coronado Plan is the national Forest Service policies that have been pursued through the US Department of Agriculture by the Bush administration.    The national policy document, the 2008 Planning Rule,  that the Coronado planning process is being implemented under is in litigation in Federal court in San Francisco under the Endangered Species act.   The suit was filed in May, 2008 by environmental groups Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, and Wilderness Society.

The April, 2008 Planning Rule eliminated requirements that plans guarantee the “viability” of wildlife and suggested that there can be “categorical exclusions” from environmental impact statements within individual forest plans.   Forest managers can determine what, if any, actions under their individual plans, require consideration of environmental impacts.

The lawsuit alleges—much like a similar lawsuit that environmentalists won in March, 2007 in a Federal district court over a similar 2005 plan—that the Administration has removed protections from wildlife, avoided the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and established inadequate public policy reviews under the 1976 National Forest Management Act (NFMA) signed into law under the Nixon administration and clarified under 1982 guidelines under President Reagan.

Coronado Forest planner Jennifer Ruyle said, “The legal controversy is over the rule itself issued in April and not what we are doing here at the Coronado.  We’re setting the bar pretty high and the process, begun informally in 2005 with first public meetings in 2006, has been pretty good so far. We’ve had a lot of support and a tremendous amount of public involvement.   We’re continually asking for feedback and most of it is pretty positive.

Ruyle added, “We can absolutely apply our standards within the national policy.   Our input process has been very thorough in gathering ecological, sociological economic information and in broad public involvement.

We will have a more effective result than the 1986 plan and it will be more informative to land managers.  The concept we are utilizing is adaptive management—planning for activities, implementing them and seeing what results are and acting accordingly to change our policies as needed.”

One local opponent to the Rosemont mine, Lainie Levick of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, sees the plan as an opportunity to address the impacts of mining on the forest at a local level.

Levick said, “In the past, the Coronado has identified management areas and designated what the uses should be and mining has been a carry-over from years in which historical mining districts get designated as mining areas.  This is true whether or not they are, in fact, urban refuges like the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains have become.  Residential areas have increased in size and together with tourism and recreation they constitute the predominant economy.  The new management plan should address that.”

The November Coronado Forest Plan Revision Public Meetings consist of six meetings on individual Ranger Districts and sections of them, and one Coronado-wide meeting in Benson.

The list of meetings is below.

√ Douglas Ranger District   - Chiricahua, Peloncillo and Dragoon Mountains. November 6, Thursday, 4:00 - 7:00 pm Rodeo Community Center, Highway 80 and Hickory St., Rodeo, NM ;

November 12, Wednesday  4:00 - 7:00 pm, Cochise College, Douglas Campus, Student Union, Room 501, 4190 W. State Hwy 80,  Douglas.

√ Sierra Vista Ranger District, Huachuca and Whetstone Mountains, November 13, Thursday, 4:00 - 7:00 pm, Buena High School Commons Area,  5225 East Buena School  Blvd., Sierra Vista

√ Nogales Ranger District,  Santa Rita and Tumacacori Mountains.  November 17, Monday,  4:00 - 7:00 pm, Esplendor Resort, Sonoran Ballroom, 1069 Camino Caralamp, Rio Rico

√ Forest-wide: November 22, Saturday, 9:00 - 12:00 pm, Cochise College Benson Campus, 1025 S Highway 90 (.8mi S of  I -10), Benson.

Information on the process and meetings can be obtained by calling Sarah Davis (520) 388-8458 or Jennifer Ruyle (520) 388-8351 at the Coronado Forest Service office in Tucson and by visiting the forest plan website link at (www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/plan-revision/index.shtml