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DNS FOG Temp: 32 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Saturday, November 30, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend November 4, 2002 The BLM plans open houses and coffee-break gatherings to answer questions about the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument By VICKIE ALDOUS for the Mail Tribune Residents can learn details of alternatives for managing the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during open houses hosted by the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District. The meetings will cover everything from access inside the monument to forest thinning and prescribed burning. "These meetings are so we can help people understand the management alternatives and hopefully get a plan that all the different factions can agree on," said Rich Drehobl, BLM monument manager. The BLM, which has jurisdiction over the monument, issued a draft environmental impact statement in early June outlining four management options. Residents had little time to digest the 800-page draft plan before the BLM held a public meeting in mid-June. For that reason, additional meetings were scheduled, Drehobl said. Alternative A would continue interim management; Alternative B is a hands-off approach; Alternative C is a middle-ground option; and Alternative D is a more intensive, proactive strategy. The final management plan likely will contain a mix of alternatives, according to BLM officials. The BLM is accepting public comments on the plan through Dec. 19. The first open house will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Red Lion Hotel, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford. Residents are invited to drop in during a daylong series of meetings on specific monument issues on Dec. 7 at the Pinehurst School, 15337 Highway 66, about 23 miles from Ashland. From 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., the discussion will focus on how recreation would be managed and what facilities — such as trailheads, toilets and kiosks — would be provided. Transportation planning and access issues will be discussed from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. From 3 to 5 p.m., residents can learn about proposed vegetation treatments, including forest thinning and prescribed burning, in the Old Growth Emphasis and the Diversity Emphasis areas of the monument. A monument staff person will be available to answer questions from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays from Nov. 19 through Dec. 17 at the Green Springs Inn, 11470 Highway 66. "It’s an ‘over a cup of coffee’ thing," Drehobl said. "People can talk to a staff member face to face and look at maps." The issue of livestock grazing is not part of the draft plan and will not be discussed at the meetings. The BLM has begun a long-term study of possible effects of grazing. The management alternatives do not apply to private property, and those owners retain access to their land, according to BLM officials. Wildfires will continue to be suppressed in the same way they were fought before creation of the monument, according to officials at the Oregon Department of Forestry, which contracts to fight fires on BLM land. BLM officials expect to release a proposed resource management plan and final EIS in the spring. A decision on a final management plan will follow in the summer, BLM officials predicted. Paper copies or CD-ROM versions of the draft plan, as well as shorter readers’ guides, are available at the BLM office in Medford. Information is also may be downloaded at www.or.blm.gov/csnm/index.htm Vickie Aldous is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach her at 482-3456. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S