Ladies and gentlemen, start you engines!

This is the beginning of the struggle for the Wayne!
The letter (below) from the Wayne is dated the 14th, received on the 17th with the listening sessions starting the 22nd.
If you have any desire to ride the Wayne national forest in the future, you must respond to this alert. This is the beginning of the "New Forest Plan". Everyone who is anti anything will be at these meetings saying motorized needs to be kicked out of the forest, You know they will. The anti's want us out. They will be there! During the process they will lie, they will take pictures of the trails of every jerk who ever decided they did not need to stay on the trail, every soft spot, all the worst they can find. They do not care if we do have the right. They do not care if our taxes pay for them more then they pay for themselves. They hate motors! They hate wheels! Snowmobiles do not even touch the ground and they hate them. If you do not respond with a letter (by February 1st) and/or go to these meetings, just blow this process off, then you will be the best friend the anti folks will ever hope to have.
Tell them they need to provide the 300 miles of trail they promised 15 years ago and get it done now. They need to make sure the folks who are charged with our trails are not anti motorized as the lady is who worked on the camp Ohio connecter (that has been in the works for over three years). Expand all trail opportunities. 2005 will see the completion of the 33 bypass increasing the use of the ORV trails at the Wayne. This is your opportunity to tell the Wayne what you know would make a better system.
Anti's will be asking to remove motorized for the same reasons, more people will want to use the trails so just remove them. I have listened to the folks who want the Wayne to become a wilderness, you are not included.
If you do not voice your opinion for your sport, you will be shouting against it. This is a short notice for the start of the process though the process will be a long one. Do not give the anti folks the holeshot on your sport!

Bill k
OMTA (have you joined yet?)




January 14, 2001

>From the Wayne National Forest,

This month the Wayne National Forest will begin its revision of the 1988 Land
and Resource Management Plan. Plan revision is a lengthy process, and this
letter is just the beginning of many opportunities for periodic exchanges of
information between us.

The first major step in the revision process is to identify possible "needs for
change" to the existing Forest Plan. The "need for change" analysis will be
used to develop the Notice of Intent that will be published for scoping later
this year. We invite you to consider the following question, and let us know
your thoughts about changes needed and why. Please be as specific as possible
with what objective, outputs, activities, land allocations or standards you
think need changed.

1. What would you change in the existing Forest Plan?

2. How would you improve or change resource management on-the-ground?

Over the next few months, we will summarize the responses and share them with
you. This information will help us narrow down what changes are needed in the
current Forest Plan. Once we have determined the type of changes that are
needed we will gather the appropriate data to analyze them. These planning
steps are in preparation for the decision process and should take two to three
years to complete.

We want to include everyone interested in participating by providing as many
avenues of involvement in the process as possible. Throughout the process, we
will accept comments through several avenues. You may e-mail, "Forest Plan
Changes." You may talk with a member of the planning team by calling
740-753-0101. You may send written comments to:

Forest Plan Revision Team
Wayne National Forest
13700 U.S. Route 33
Nelsonville, OH 45764

Throughout the planning process, we will host a variety of public meetings and
workshops in different locations throughout Ohio. The first series of listening
sessions will be held Jan.22, 23, and 24 to help us identify the "need for
change" to the existing Plan. Those meetings will be held:
Jan. 22 Ramada Inn, Nelsonville, OH 7 to 9 p.m
Jan. 23 Lafayette Hotel, Marietta, OH 7 to 9 p.m.
Jan. 24 Ohio University Southern Campus Ironton 7 to 9 p.m.
These meetings will be listening sessions to provide the public an opportunity
to speak about the "need for change" to the plan. Each participant will be
allowed to speak for three minutes, and we will record all comments for
inclusion in the analysis. I plan to attend each of these sessions.

>From the Wayne National Forest
Page 2

We will keep you informed of developments during the revision process through a
number of avenues. We will post information to a special section of our
webpageat www.fs.fed.us/r9/wayne.We will publish a special quarterly newsletter,
and we will continue to inform you of special events by mail. If you wish to
receive information about the plan revision by e-mail rather than printed mail,
please send an e-mail to croberts@fs.fed.us. Please indicate if you prefer to
receive both e-mail and a printed copy.

The Forest Service's Office of General Counsel (OGC) has determined that names
and addresses of people who respond to a Forest Service solicitation are not
protected by the Privacy Act and can be released to the public. The Forest
Service routinely gives notice of and requests comments on proposed land and
resource management actions accompanied by environmental documents, as well as
on proposed rules and policies. Comments received in response to such
solicitations, including the names and addresses of those who comment, will now
be considered part of the public record and will be available for public
inspection, upon request. Any person may request the agency to withhold a
submission from the public record by showing how the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) permits such confidentiality. The opinion states that such
confidentiality may be granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to
protect trade secrets.

To be most helpful to us, please respond with your comments by Feb. 1. While
this is a short period, please remember that this comment period is only
intended to identify revision topics. There will be ample opportunity for added
comments throughout the entire revision process. Because of the number of
people we expect will reply, please understand that we will not be able to
respond personally to each letter. However, all comment are important to us,
and your thoughts will be considered in identifying the "need for change."

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,



MARY O. REDDAN
Forest Supervisor