Forest service/sheriff’s office look at gates on forest

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The forest service representatives met with Emery County commissioners Ethan Migliori and Keith Brady and Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk about gates on the forest. Sheriff Funk said the sheriff’s office has a problem with access issues pertaining to search and rescue. They have to call around to get a combination or a key so they can open the gates. Commissioner Migliori said in the two years he has been a commissioner he has heard from residents several times about gate closures. He wondered if the use of four wheeler ramps to allow ATV access beyond the gates was an option.
Forest service personnel didn’t think ramps would allow access much sooner because there’s really no where for the ATVs to go if there is a lot of snow.
The cabin owners at Miller’s Flat want to have access to their cabins.
Forest service personnel said their main concern is travel on wet roads. It ruts the road and pushes the gravel down into the subgrade. They have put in a lot of effort to get the roads where they are now. Everyone has a four wheel drive and driving on wet roads opens it up to all kinds of maintenance issues. The forest service said it’s $26,000 a mile for the gravel. Their road budget is $600,000 per year which includes all maintenance on the roads and employees/equipment.
The sheriff expressed concerns with early road closures in the fall which cut into the elk hunt. Sometimes it snows during the elk hunt, the roads shouldn’t be closed during the hunts.
The forest service said one concern with four wheelers is they don’t stay on the roads when the roads are wet they travel along the sides of the roads and up the terraces which can cause damage and send sediment down into the streams and reservoirs. Gates are used to control that damage to the resource with sediment coming down. Some ATVs will obey and stay on the roads and trails and some won’t.
Darren Olsen from the forest service passed around some pictures of rutted roads caused from people driving around snow drifts. If people are shut out of one area then the impacts will usually move elsewhere. The forest service said after the roads are dried out then people can begin using them again. People appreciate when the roads are in good shape.
Wayde Nielsen, the department director for the Emery County Road Department said, they keep the roads on the desert open all the time. Sometimes damage happens but they don’t close the roads. They keep the roads maintained as best they can. “As a citizen, I see more and more control,” said Nielsen. The forest service personnel said their main concern is spring time. Nielsen said the roads get wet in the summer with rain, will they close the roads then, too?
Currently there is a spring closure during the melt when the roads are vulnerable. Olsen said the directive is they keep the roads closed until May 5. If the roads dry out before then, they can open sooner. If there’s a set date the roads will open, then people will know when they will be opened. It’s important to keep the public informed as to when the gates are closed or opened so they can plan for it.
Nielsen said sometimes they open the gate and are doing work in Ferron Canyon and people go up there, then they don’t know what to do, if they lock the gate then people are stuck behind the gate. Olsen said it works best when they have dates. They have put dates on the map. The forest service keeps opening and closing dates on their website for public information. The Ferron office also has a white board with the closures outlined on it that people can stop and look at. They try to keep people informed.
Sheriff Funk reiterated their officers need access, they just had someone on Horn Mountain that needed to be rescued and they didn’t have access and had to call around to try to track down combinations, before they could begin a search.
Combinations are hard to control and Olsen said it’s also frustrating to them when a gate is open and the forest service doesn’t know why.
It was suggested the forest service have more signage at the mouths of the canyons to let people know if the gates are open or closed. This could prevent people from driving a long way, only to be turned around at the gate.
Commissioner Migliori asked what would the county have to commit to have year-round access to the forest? No one had an answer for that question. Jokingly someone said maybe the county could take over the easement for the roads?
The main forest roads are natural surface with 4-6 inches of gravel on top. The worst time for the roads is the snow melt. The gates were closed early this year because the winter was mild and warm without much snowfall. After the snow, the gates were reopened but, are now closed again. There are some wildlife closures for key winter range.
The county gets more money from the state gas tax for the number of miles of road in the county.
Rosann Fillmore from the forest service said people appreciate good roads and trails to drive on and the forest service just wants to maintain what they have.
The Manti-LaSal is a poor forest without a lot of money for maintenance for the roads. The county and Wayde and the road department really help the forest service a lot with their roads.
Mike Olsen, Emery County Attorney proposed there be better communication between the forest service and the county and the public so people will know when the gates are closed or open.
It was agreed the sheriff’s office needs access and there needs to be a way for this to happen quickly. Sheriff Funk asked the forest service to provide keys or combinations to be kept at dispatch so the information can be accessed immediately.
There also needs to be a way for those in Miller’s Flat to access their cabins. The Miller’s Flat road is usually the last to open.
The forest service appreciates Wayde and the road department for the gravel they have put down, they can do it cheaper than the forest service.
Also in the spring the Huntington/Cleveland irrigation company needs access to the reservoirs so they can start sending water to the irrigators.
Commissioner Migliori expressed his appreciation for those in attendance at the meeting trying to find a better way to do things. Is there something we can do to solve the concerns? Our biggest fear is that someone else comes along and changes things. We need consistency, if we did we could function better. We all want the same result, we just don’t know how to get there.
Commissioner Brady said the county can help to get the word out on social media about the roads and closures.
Fillmore said the forest service is looking at road cameras, similar to the UDOT cameras for road conditions. Then the status of the road can be checked remotely without someone having to drive up to assess the road to see if it’s ready for opening.
FACT SHEET: Gates and Road Closures on the Manti-La Sal National Forest
Each spring the Manti-La Sal National Forest closes a few roads for a short period of time, in order to meet its responsibility to provide safe and efficient travel and protect National Forest System lands, as allowed and mandated under the Code of Federal Regulations. (36 CFR; §212, §251, §261 & §295)
In order to provide better road surfaces, safe and efficient access for the greatest number of people using the forest (thousands of vehicles during summer), we require everyone to wait a few weeks in the spring before traveling on closed forest roads.
The forest also closes some roads and trails to protect wildlife on key winter range. These closures are prescribed by the 1986 Forest Management Plan.
A series of gates are used to enforce seasonal closures and allow earlier access to the forest. They are opened incrementally on sections of road as snow melts and mud dries in lower elevations, eventually opening the entire road to public travel.
When we allow travel on roads before snowdrifts are melted, travelers often go around drifts and damage the landscape. We are then out of compliance with the CFR and our travel plan and the offenders can be subject to prosecution.
If roads are closed during spring thaw, the snow melts, runs off the road, and the road is ready for summer traffic when the gates open. If there is traffic on the roads during snow melt, when they are deeply saturated, the roads become rutted, water is trapped on the road, and it takes them longer to dry out. The subgrade is soft, so vehicles push the gravel down into the mud where it is lost.
When the Forest Service closes roads, it is protecting the taxpayer’s investment in a safe, efficient, graveled surface, which amounts to approximately $26,000 per mile. If we have to repair subgrade and replace culverts, it’s another $20,000 per mile.
The Manti-La Sal National Forest publishes a Motor Vehicle Use Map, which gives travelers the legal dates when roads and trails will be open. The maps can be obtained free at any Forest Service Office or viewed online at http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/mantilasal/maps-pubs
The CFR allows law enforcement access for emergency purposes and in response to violations of law, including pursuit.