Upcoming opportunities to learn and/or get involved with local issues:
Shoshone National Forest has revised its proposed action for its Travel Management Plan. There is a meeting to get more information on Thursday, November 30th at 5:30pm in the Cody Club Room (next to the Cody Auditorium, 1240 Beck Street). Comments are due December 10th. The most effective comments are ones that include your personal experiences using motorized routes, conflicts witnessed, and compliance issues you’d like fixed. Also, letting the Forest know what you like in their proposal encourages them to keep that in their preferred alternative. There are three sets of maps, one for Subpart A which is their general road footprint analysis; and Subpart B which is the travel plan that becomes the new working Motor Vehicle Use Map; and Subpart C which addresses only winter motorized use. Subpart B and C are likely where you will be most inspired to comment.
Jenny DeSarro will be her office Wednesday, December 6th, all day working on these comments and available for answering your questions pertaining to Travel Management. Please stop in and bring a friend.
Wyoming Game and Fish is hosting a discussion/listening session collecting public input on the future management of Grizzly Bears also Thursday, November 30th at 6:30pm at the Holiday Inn in Cody. The meeting is expected to be very participatory talking about 1) Monitoring and Research; 2) Education, 3) Conflict Management, and 4)Hunting in small groups. Chris Colligan is GYC’s expert on this topic and you may want to visit with him at 307-734-0633 or ccolligan@greateryellowstone.org.
Park County Wyoming Public Lands Initiative Advisory Committee will have its next meeting Monday, December 4th at 5:30 pm in the Grizzly Room of the Park County Library. I am unclear as to what will be on the agenda, but their will likely be an opportunity for public comment to what the committee discusses and/or what may be on your mind pertaining to the process. The committee has been floating a draft proposal for McCullough Peaks Wilderness Study Area (WSA). Public is encouraged to comment by Friday, December 1st. Here is the link with details: http://www.parkcounty.us/commissioners/wplimcculloughpeaks.html
The committee does not have a recommendation for High Lakes WSA in the forest, and may end with status quo as best case due to inability to broaden the interest-based negotiations to include lands outside of the WSA that might help better satisfy all stakeholders at the table. The Park County Commissioners decided to limit the discussion to the WSA borders, which restricts the committee’s decision space and ability to produce a quality recommendation that does not simply eat away at existing protected lands in order to satisfy all interests. Jenny DeSarro is happy to answer questions about the process and/or the McCullough Peaks WSA proposal.
We hope to see you at one, or if you are ambitious, all the meetings.