By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau
GREEN RIVER -- Bridger-Teton National Forest officials are considering reopening the scenic Lake Mountain Road north of Kemmerer after closing it to motorized vehicle-use a decade ago.
But a Kemmerer resident and several conservation organizations opposed to reopening the road say the Forest Service is succumbing to political pressure from Utah and Wyoming congressional members.
They charge that Wyoming's Rep. Barbara Cubin and Utah's Rep. Jim Hansen have been pushing since the mid-1990s to have the road reopened for Hansen's personal use -- at the expense of local support for keeping it closed.
The road needs to remain closed, they say, to protect other roadless areas from vehicular encroachment and to protect a sensitive species of cutthroat trout.
But in a statement issued late Friday by press secretary Kim Deti, Rep. Cubin said she has made no attempts to influence the outcome of an upcoming environmental study on the proposal.
Cubin said she is expected to represent her constituents before federal agencies and did write letters with Hansen asking the agency to consider opening the road.
"Any allegation of 'undue influence' in this matter is ridiculous," she said.
"I have always believed in public access to public lands. There's no question in my mind that the multiple-use concept is healthy for public lands."
Neither Rep. Hansen. or Marnie Funk, press secretary for environmental affairs, could be reached for comment.
A Bridger-Teton National Forest spokesman said Friday no decision on reopening the road has been made. He said the agency will strictly adhere to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in an upcoming environmental study of the issue.
Federal officials contend that reopening the road would allow for more "dispersed" recreational opportunities for area residents, the spokesman said.
The Lake Mountain Road -- located in the Kemmerer Ranger District at the south end of the forest between Lake Alice and Commissary Ridge -- was closed in 1991 as part of a new BTNF road and travel plan.
The road runs to the top of Lake Mountain, the site of an abandoned drilling pad. When the road was open, it was used by recreationists to access an overlook with a scenic view of Lake Alice.
Kemmerer Ranger District spokesman John Wytanis said the reasons for the 1991 closure included preventing damage to riparian areas along the nearby Hobble Creek and preventing the illegal pioneering of new two-track roads at the end of Lake Mountain Road.
Additionally, the silt and sedimentation from the vehicle use of a stream ford which crossed Hobble Creek on Lake Mountain Road was threatening a Bonneville cutthroat trout fishery in the creek.
He said the district is beginning an environmental analysis to look at the effects of reopening the road. A scoping comment period is under way to determine if an environmental analysis or an environmental impact statement should be conducted.
Under the proposal, the road would be opened in its entirety to wheeled motorized vehicles, including full-sized vehicles and ATVs, from its present closure location on the west side of Hobble Creek to the old drill pad. The road would be closed to wheeled motorized vehicles from September to the end of June.
Wytanis said before the road could be reopened, a full-size bridge would have to be constructed at the site of the old stream ford. "We need some measures to mitigate the effects of sediment from the ford or we have to put a bridge in," he said.
He said the agency considered building a bridge following a 1997 environmental study on several road closures in the district, including Lake Mountain Road, but declined because of limited funds.
"If we decide to open the road, it won't happen unless a structure like a bridge or some kind of traffic barriers are put in place," he said. "But with this EA, then at least we can begin to plan, through our capital investment program, and maybe start trying to fund those things."
Wytanis said reopening the road would provide increased recreational opportunities for the public.
"With the view of Lake Alice, (the top of Lake Mountain) is probably one of the more scenic areas in the district itself, which has only a few campgrounds like Hobble Creek and Hams Fork campgrounds," he said. "Opening the road would just increase the opportunities for residents which are semi-limited right now because of the amount of inventories roadless areas in the district."
Improper influence?
Kemmerer resident Mike Hunzie of Kemmerer, a former Wyoming Game and Fish commissioner, said the Cubin/Hansen letters indicate "a strong congressional micromanagement and the-public-be-damned outcome."
He worried that reopening the road will lead to the same problems that prompted the road closure in the first place: the cutting of new roads from the top of Lake Mountain east of the overlook down into Commissary Ridge.
"They've given us the scientific reasons for leaving the damn thing shut ... but nobody's given a good reason to open it other than somebody wants it open," Hunzie said.
Kathy Buchner, director of Wyoming Trout Unlimited in Jackson, said her organization is also "extremely concerned" about the apparent "lack of NEPA process" involved in past and present proposals to open the road.
"Trout Unlimited will fight this push to reopen the road ... and as before, we're concerned about the process," she said in an interview.
"We didn't think it was any business of Rep. Cubin's or Hansen's to start putting pressure on the Forest Service to open the road prior to whatever analysis is done," she said. "We're wondering about the legitimacy of spending this many tax dollars for just a few people."
Buchner said Bonneville cutthroat trout habitat was being severely impacted by the Lake Mountain Road crossing on Hobble Creek when the road was open.
The Bonneville cutthroat is listed as a sensitive species by the agency and has been recommended for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
"The trout issues remain the same," she said. "And we've been told that the road can't be reopened unless a bridge can be built and the Forest Service doesn't have the money for a new bridge."
Dan Heilig, executive director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said in an interview the WOC is going to advocate for continuing closure of the road because of environmental concerns.
"The fact that the agencies are still unable to get a handle on the proliferation of those pioneer roads created by ATVs and other mechanized vehicles goes against everything we're trying to do right now ... and that is to restore a balance of roaded and unroaded areas in the forest," he said.
"The decision to close the road was the proper decision, made in accordance with NEPA and Forest Service requirements and we hope they stand by that decision," Heilig said.
Letters exchanged
Hunzie and Buchner contend that Cubin and Hansen improperly influenced BTNF officials through letters and correspondence in 1995 and 1996, prior to any environmental study on a proposal to reopen the road.
They point to a letter dated Jan. 24, 1996, from Rep. Hansen, then-chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands, and Rep. Cubin to Bridger-Teton Forest Supervisor Sandra Key.
The letter was a followup on correspondence sent to BTNF officials in March 1995 regarding the closure of the Lake Mountain Road, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Star-Tribune.
"Although we previously received assurances from (BTNF officials) that a decision about this road closure would be made in a timely fashion, we have yet to receive any word from your office as to when the road might be reopened," the two wrote.
"As we stated earlier, this road provides access to many types of recreational users," the letter said. "For this reason, it is important to us and our constituents that it be reopened as soon as possible. If you could kindly let us know in the very near future about your plans to open the Lake Mountain Road, we would greatly appreciate it."
In a return letter from Key dated May 20, 1996, the supervisor assured the two representatives it was the agency's "intention to open" the road.
"However, that decision has not been released to the public through the NEPA process (and) I estimate we will have the road opened by mid-August," Key wrote.
"The Lake Mountain Road has deteriorated since it was last open (and) the crossing at Hobble Creek must be fixed before the road can be opened ... this will require a shift in road maintenance priorities over the next year," Key's letter said.
"We will make every attempt to open the Lake Mountain Road. It will be maintained for 4-wheel drive vehicles and for public safety," Key wrote. "This will be accomplished at the expense of not maintaining other more heavily used roads on the Forest."
Pressure questioned
The letter is an example of "what happens all the time when members of Congress are trying to influence agency decision-making," Heilig said.
"We clearly would much rather any decision (on Lake Mountain Road) be made in the hands of the responsible land management agencies," he said.
But Cubin said the Forest Service initiated the new public scoping process after its own evaluation of the road closure.
"I have made no attempts to influence the outcome, and believe the process must be followed to protect both our environment and public lands access," Cubin said in the statement.
"By cutting off vehicle access to public lands, disabled Americans are denied enjoyment of these lands," she said. "Only those young and healthy enough for extended hikes are able to benefit from the resources. That's what I had in mind with those letters about the Lake Mountain Road."
BTNF public affairs spokesman Jay Anderson said in an interview the agency will "be doing everything possible to look at this project objectively and to make sure the science backs whatever decision is made."
He said "absolutely no decision has been made" on the proposal to open the road.
"Everybody needs to understand that NEPA is a legal process that we have to follow ... it's not a political process," Anderson said.
"Whatever political pressures may exist, and they are probably a factor in every decision made ... the bottom line is NEPA's the law and we have to follow the guidelines in that law and make an appropriate and legal decision," he said.
"If we're going to do this (process) once and for all and do it right, we're going to need a wide variety of public input from all the affected parties to include in our evaluation."
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