How will the Forest Service pay for travel planning? Will other Forest Service programs be cut?
A. The Forest Service expects to complete route and area designation on all national forests by 2009, using available funds. A designated system of motor vehicle routes will benefit multiple agency programs, and funding sources will depend on the specific local circumstances. Travel planning is ongoing today on many national forests. The new rule provides a consistent national framework for these efforts. Addressing urgent needs in unmanaged recreation will sometimes delay other agency work, but this will be a local situation. Failure to complete travel planning would be even more costly, both in agency expenditures and in terms of impacts to recreational visitors and the environment. N18. Many respondents suggested including an enforceable deadline in the final rule for route and area designation. Why didn’t the Forest Service adopt this suggestion? How will the agency assure that designation gets done? A. An enforceable regulatory deadline would subject the Forest Service to legal ch
