[NMCCSC] Fwd: [Sandia Nordic Ski Club] Brief Summary of Last Night's Meeting with USFS

Thu Jul 18 13:32:47 MDT 2019

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Scott Dietrich <sandianordic at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 18, 2019 at 12:26 PM
Subject: [Sandia Nordic Ski Club] Brief Summary of Last Night's Meeting
with USFS
To: Sandia Nordic Ski Club <sandia-nordic-ski-club at googlegroups.com>

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to provide a brief summary of last night's Sandia Trails
Improvement Project (STIP) public scoping meeting with Kerry Wood of USFS.

   - Overall, the meeting was well attended by SNSC members.  Of the
   roughly 25 people in attendance, we had 10 SNSC members, including 6 of our
   board members present.  THANK YOU to all who attended to help represent
   Sandia Nordic.
   - Kerry provided a nice overview of each of the five components of STIP,
   including our planned improvements to the Sandia Nordic trail system.
   - Kerry shared that they are expecting to have the Decision Memo signed
   by September (note that a signed Decision Memo takes the projects from
   proposed to actual planned projects).  He indicated that we should be able
   to start moving dirt as early as this September.
   - There are a variety of considerations running in the background while
   USFS prioritizes the various projects, including available resources
   (volunteer labor hours, financial, paid work crew availability, etc.).  ONE
   KEY CONSIDERATION IS THE AMOUNT OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR EACH PROJECT.  If you
   have not already sent written feedback to Kerry in support of our trail
   modifications, please make sure that you do so before the July 30th
   deadline (guidance provided below).  As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel
   gets the oil...
   - Kerry did mention to the group that the Ski Trails would have an
   elevated priority out of the gate this September to ensure that we are able
   to get at least a few improvements made to the trails before the snow
   starts to fall.  We will need to have a strong commitment from our Club
   members to help with the physical work on the trails this fall (more to
   come as planned work days begin to get scheduled).
   - No one at the meeting expressed opposition to the planned Sandia
   Nordic trail improvements.

*Guidance on Submitting Comments to Kerry Wood*

Attached please find a letter from Sandia District Ranger, Crystal Powell,
soliciting input on the proposed trail modifications, as well as a map of
the Sandia Nordic trails that will be included in the project.  In the
letter the groomed trail modification project is referred to as "Construct
(and designate as NFST) approximately 3 miles of purpose-built
cross-country skiing trails.  Prohibit all other uses on designated
trails." (See 3rd bullet in 4th paragraph of letter).  Please note that
Crystal asks that feedback be sent to Kerry Wood, who will be managing the
project, by July 30, 2019.  You can send your comments to Kerry via email (
kerry.wood at usda.gov) or US Mail at:

Cibola National Forest
Attn: Kerry Wood
2113 Osuna Road NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113

*General Guidance on Submitting Comments*

Obviously, expressing general support of the groomed cross country ski
trails is critically important.  Comments should express a need and a
purpose (e.g., We need to reroute certain sections of the upper trail
system in order to make the access from the Ellis parking lot to the lower
meadows easier [make some of the downhills less steep; increase the
visibility around some of the corners].  The purpose of this reroute would
be to provide easier access to beginner and novice skiers and make the
trails safer).

You may want to consider including comments related to how skiing on
groomed trails is safer than skiing on ice-crusted trails that are not
maintained.  Also, having a groomed track provides the opportunity to skate
ski and a better opportunity for classic style skiing as well  A nice
groomed track also helps elevate Albuquerque's winter recreation status
when compared to other areas in the nation that have groomed xc ski areas.

Thank you for your support of Sandia Nordic!

Scott

-- 
Scott Dietrich

505.350.5233 <(505)%20350-5233>
SandiaNordic.org <http://www.sandianordic.org/>
Sandia Nordic Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/SandiaNordicSkiClub/>
Sandia Nordic Twitter <https://twitter.com/SandiaNordic>

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