Seasonal closure of Nuck Woodward Road doesn’t sit well with me

The Manti LaSal National Forest Service is creating a non-motorized hunting zone for hoof and foot traffic only.
That is the real reason the Manti LaSal National Forest is locking the gates on Nuck Woodward Road. That will take place on Sept. 5, 2017.
Never mind the other things they have said. It’s not that the road is too expensive to maintain, nor that the area needs more time to heal from the Seeley Fire, it’s not to allow wildlife to thrive, not even to provide cow elk with a “nursery” nope, it’s all about a selfish plan to prevent my truck from disturbing hoof and foot hunters that became spoiled after four years of having the area to themselves.
Forest Ranger Darrin Olsen explained to The Emery County Commissioners (on Tuesday August 2, 2017) that the real reason the gates must be locked is because there needs to be “balance” in the forest. His plan to do that is by creating a non-motorized hunting area where only those on foot or hoof can enter during the hunting seasons. An interesting bit of math facts reveals that there is already approximately 8,000 acres of non-motorized land in the Nuck Woodward area with only the six miles of Nuck Woodward Canyon Road allowing motorized traffic. 6 miles length x 20’ width of the roadbed = 14.55 acres that is available to my truck. So hoof and foot have 8,000 acres, motorized vehicles have less than 15 acres. Mr. Olsen plans to “balance” that out by closing the only motorized road? What am I missing here? I’m not missing anything, this closure is all about the selfish desires of a select few.
Mr. Olsen claims authority to do such “emergency closures” for “resource protection.” He never identified what “resource” needed protecting, evidently the private use of public lands for a select group of recreationists is now considered to be a “resource”?
We are also asked to believe that this “temporary closure” is just for one time, as a test. They’ll analyze the results and determine if it was a success. I am still not sure what that means. I wonder why they didn’t do their “test” during the four years the gates were locked after Seeley Fire. Seems to me that would have been the perfect time to gather data and analyze it.
As for the need to create a non-motorized hunting zone,
Mr Olsen explained that this can be accomplished easily at Nuck Woodward Canyon, because there is only one road that would need to be closed in order to provide this unique experience.
He handed out maps showing how the entire forest is dissected by roads and trails and that once you add a one-mile buffer to each road and trail, there simply are too few areas where foot and hoof hunters can go to hunt, without hearing my truck that is.
A point of confusion arose when Mr. Olsen also explained that 50 percent of the Manti LaSal National Forest has been identified as “Inventoried Roadless Area.” This, right after he had distributed the maps showing how difficult it is to go anywhere on the forest to get away from roads or trails.
How can both of those statements be true? Well, you will have to ask the Forest Service to explain, as it was Mr. Olsen that presented both sets of facts.
While neither Carbon County Board of Commissioners, nor Emery County Board of Commissioners have given their support to the “emergency closure to protect resources,” our local Forest Service is moving forward with their plans to lock the gates at Nuck Woodward on Sept. 5.
If you care, please get involved. If not, maybe you will care about the next closure?
Alan J. Peterson
Helper, Utah