transportation management
OHV Use In Red River
Update: November 19, 2011
The Carson National Forest has published their decision for the Travel Management Plan in the forest area surrounding Red River. Pending further discussion with the forest service this is the Town of Red River's interpretation of the decision (in bold):
USFS: Restrict motor vehicle use to administrative use only on approximately 15 miles of existing open road in the Midnight Meadows, Greenie Peak, Bitter Creek, Middle Fork Lake, El Rito (north of Questa), Lama, Garrapata, and San Cristobal areas. These roads will not be available for general public use and will not be displayed on the MVUM.
This is 15 miles spread out between these eight roads, but they don't specify where the closures will take place. However, it's our understanding that the restrictions will not affect your ability to get to Greenie Peak or Midnight Meadows (Bitter Creek and Middlefork Lake will remain closed). The roads they are removing from the map system are essentially dead ends or are closed anyway. You should notice no difference.
USFS: Add approximately 13 miles of unauthorized route as NFS roads open to all vehicles in the Questa, Lama, and San Cristobal areas.
They are adding thirteen miles of trails to their map system in the areas surrounding Red River.
USFS: Add approximately 2 miles of unauthorized route segments (<300 feet long) as NFS roads open to all vehicles off FR 134 (Cabresto Canyon, Bonito Canyon, and Midnight Meadows), FR 597 (Greenie Peak and Mallette Canyon), FR 488 (Foster Park), and NM 578 (upper Red River Canyon).
They are adding 2 miles of roads that had previously been unauthorized to their map system in the above mentioned areas.
USFS: Remove all 34 miles of existing 100-foot corridor along designated roads.
Previously there were 34 miles of road that were marked on forest service inventory that could you could gather wood, cut trees, etc on 100 ft. of either side of the road, but much of that land was unusable (cliff, rocks, etc). The forest service is simply removing that area from their inventory (34 miles over the entire ranger district, not just in the Red River area). It is our understanding that you are still permitted to retrieve game and camp along forest service roads within the 100 ft corridor.
USFS: Add approximately 2 miles of unauthorized routes to the existing Elephant Rock motorcycle trail system as a NFS trail open to motorcycles only in the vicinity of Cabresto Canyon and Sawmill.
Adding two miles of trails that had previously been unauthorized for use on the Elephant Rock motorcycle trail.
USFS: Convert approximately 2 miles of NFS road to NFS trail and add 1 mile of unauthorized route to the existing motorized trail system as an NFS trail in 4th of July Canyon, for vehicles 50 inches wide or less (3 miles total).
Fourth of July Canyon will now be open for OHVs and motorcycles only (50" or less). Access will not be allowed for vehicles larger than that.
USFS: Allow motor vehicle use between May 1 and December 31 on NFS roads in the Foster Park/4th of July Canyon (FR 488 and 490), Placer Creek/Goose Lake area (FR 486), San Cristobal/Cerro Negro area (FR 7), and Cebolla Mesa (except FR 9, where motor vehicle use allowed year-round). The district ranger may modify these seasonal designations to allow vehicles on roads up to two weeks prior to May 1, if dry conditions exist, or extend a seasonal closure into May, if conditions continue to be too wet.
The forest will be open for OHV, motorcycle, and 4WD access from May 1st through December 31st each year. If the forest is dry they can open it up to two weeks before that or if the forest is wet they can extend the seasonal closure through the month of May.
It is also our understanding that there is an additional comment period for us to voice our opinions, so we will keep you informed as we receive further details.
Read the Travel Management Plan in its entirety here.
