Middle Gila Canyons Transportation Plan
UPDATE: The BLM Tucson Field Office has released the Middle Gila Canyons Transportation
and Travel Management Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) for public review and
comment. The plan and environmental documents will be available for a 60-day public
review and comment period that will end May 8th, 2009. Please click on the link
to the BLM website below to review the document and find out more about how to provide
comments.
http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/travel_mgmt/mgc_tmp.html
Welcome to the Middle Gila Canyons Travel Management Planning Website.This website
will serve as the hub for the newly initiated process to develop a proposed action
for the travel management plan for the Bureau of Land Management administered lands
in the Middle Gila Canyons area. This collaborative process, sponsored by the BLM's
Tucson Field Office, will be convened and facilitated by the U.S. Institute for
Environmental Conflict Resolution. The U. S. Institute is a federal program established
in 1998 by the U. S. Congress to assist parties in resolving environmental, natural
resource, and public land conflicts. The Institute is a program of the Tucson-based
Morris K. Udall Foundation, an independent agency of the executive branch of the
United States Government(for more information on the U. S. Institute and its programs,
see: www.ecr.gov).
The U. S. Institute has been asked by the BLM to assist in convening, facilitating,
and documenting this collaborative process that brings together all stakeholders
that have an interest and commitment to the area.
In the coming months, a broadly representative working group will participate in
a process that will aim to seek agreement over the key elements of a proposed action
for a comprehensive travel management plan. The planning process will take a landscape-scale
approach, but will focus only on the federal lands administered by the BLM. The
discussions will also seek to reach agreement on specific prescriptions for key
controversial sites such as Martinez Canyon.
The results of these collaborative discussions will offer recommendations for the
BLM in defining the proposed action for the travel management plan. The proposed
action will be analyzed for compliance with the NEPA and other public land laws.
The environmental review will be completed by BLM after the description of the proposed
action is finalized.
The initial organizational meeting for the Middle Gila Canyons Travel Management
Planning process has been scheduled for Thursday evening, February 22, from 6:00
- 8:00 P.M at the Institute's office located in Tucson (please see the "meetings"
web page for more info). This meeting will offer an overview of resource management
and recreation issues in the Middle Gila Canyons area, a description of the decision
process, and a general discussion of meeting procedures.
Project location: The Middle Gila Canyons area is located in south-central
Arizona, in the vicinity of the Town of Florence and Superior, in Pinal County,
Arizona. The general area that will be the focus of this effort is bounded by Florence-Kelvin
Highway on the south, Highway 79 on the west, Highway 60 on the north, and highway
177 on the East.
For more specific information on the travel management planning process, please
read the letter below from Patrick Madigan, Field Manager, of the BLM Tucson Field
Office. This letter was sent out to all the candidate participants on January 8th,
2007.
January 8, 2007
Dear Public Land Partner:
It is my pleasure to invite you to participate in the development of the travel
management plan for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
Tucson Field Office (TFO), in the Middle Gila Canyons Area near the Town of Florence,
Pinal County, Arizona. The project area is shown on the attached maps. More detailed
maps will be available for the planning process.
An extensive system of travel routes developed by use over time provides access
to public lands in the area, and has become popular for a variety of recreational
uses. There is a need for management action because increased use has created concerns
with the condition of the routes, resource damage and use conflicts. The transportation
plan will identify designations for motorized and non¬motorized travel, closures
and other use restrictions, maintenance or improvements, and the acquisition of
easements for road or trail access.
A travel route inventory completed in 2003 identified approximately 392 miles of
existing routes used for motorized travel for various purposes, and a few non¬motorized
routes on BLM lands in the project area. Travel route evaluations conducted to date
have identified preliminary designations for about 156.6 miles of motorized routes
(shown in green on Map 2 attached), 5.7 miles of non¬motorized route (shown in purple
on Map 2), and closure of approximately 3.7 miles (shown in red on Map 2). The remaining
229.4 miles, shown in blue on Map 2, need further analysis. The evaluations so far
included representatives of the BLM, National Forest, State Land Department, Arizona
Game and Fish Department, Arizona National Guard, and public land users. A database
detailing the access and land resource factors considered in the evaluations, and
the designation alternatives for each route is available for review from this office.
Because the transportation system for the BLM administered lands in the project
area is interrelated with travel routes on adjacent lands, we are proposing a collaborative
approach involving a diverse group of stakeholders to help define the travel management
designations for the routes pending further analysis. Your input is essential to
ensure that the travel route designations on BLM lands are coordinated among the
various land jurisdictions in the project area, so that access is adequately accommodated
and resources are protected.
The enclosed Map 2 shows the preliminary travel route designations for BLM, and
those which are pending further analysis. The map also shows the main access routes
which provide access to the BLM lands from the public highway system. Some of these
access routes lack legal access, and easement acquisition will be pursued where
necessary. The existing travel routes are generally in poor condition, restricting
their useability, and most of them need maintenance, erosion control or stabilization
to keep them useable. We need your help to define the transportation system particularly
on the following:
- Travel route designations according to 43CFR8340 or 43CFR8360 (motorized, non¬motorized,
possible closure or special restrictions),
- Maintenance intensity level (guidance on the appropriate intensity, frequency, and
type of maintenance work needed to keep a route in acceptable condition for its
minimum accessibility standard),
- Access standard (the type of access or vehicle the routes should accommodate¬passenger
car, motor homes, combination trailer vehicles, 4WD, ATV, motorcycle, mountain bike,
hiker, equestrian, etc.), if time allows.
You can submit your input to the Tucson Field Office or participate in workshop
meetings in the coming months. Announcement of the workshop meeting dates will be
made in the near future.
Once the preliminary transportation plan is defined, an environmental assessment
(EA) will be prepared for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
Factors that will be addressed in the EA include air quality, Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern, cultural resources, threatened or endangered species, wetlands/riparian
zones, wilderness, invasive plants and noxious weeds, wildlife habitat, recreational
use and recreation opportunities, visual resources, and other public land resources.
Once completed, the EA will be available for public review and comment. The final
decision on the route designations and transportation plan for the BLM lands in
the project area is anticipated by September 2007. A preliminary timeline for the
project is attached, along with a chart showing the timing requirements for the
environmental review.
If you are interested in participating in this project, and particularly the stake
holder workshop meetings, please let us know by January 19. If you have any questions,
please contact Francisco Mendoza at the address above or at (520) 258¬7226, or e¬mail
at Francisco_Mendoza@blm.gov.
Sincerely,
Patrick Madigan
Field Manager
For comments or questions about this website, please contact: usiecr@ecr.gov.
This page was last updated 1/6/2011.