Amador County – A recent court order will close 42 off-road routes for wheeled motorized vehicle use in the El Dorado National Forest. ¶ Frank Mosbacher of El Dorado Forest public affairs officer said “portions of 42 off-highway-vehicle routes that cross meadows in the El Dorado Forest may be closed to motor vehicle travel this recreation season while the Forest Service completes an environmental analysis.”

El Dorado Forest Supervisor Kathy Hardy said prohibiting travel on the routes will disappoint forest visitors, “but we have to be responsive to the court order.” She has a team “lined up to complete a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement” scheduled to begin in April or May and be completed by April 2013.

A map and a complete list of the routes affected by the court order was posted on the El Dorado Forest website, and will be modified to reflect the final court order.

Hardy will close routes where it makes sense to do so if the final order prohibits travel on the routes that cross meadows. A “route may be closed near a meadow or some distance away depending on how difficult it is to turn around a vehicle.” Some routes will also be closed indirectly because they branch off closed routes and won’t be accessible.

Potential travel prohibitions are the result of a February 2012 court order by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton, who ruled the Forest Service failed to comply with the National Forest Management Act in 2008 when it designated that portions of 42 routes that cross meadows were “open for public motor vehicle use.” Karlton ordered the Forest Service to “set aside” and reconsider the designation.

Karlton ordered the 42 routes to remain closed to public wheeled motorized use pending the final court order, which will identify specifically where travel will be prohibited until a new environmental decision is made.

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