What are they doing to those two lots?
I haven't seen/heard of anything at Albany, but I haven't been paying attention either.....
Snowy Range Parking
- Thread starter tmk50
- Start date
What are they doing to those two lots?
I haven't seen/heard of anything at Albany, but I haven't been paying attention either.....
O
Ollie
ACCOUNT CLOSED
Part of the original proposal was to increase the size of the existing lots at both albany and chains end. Their reasoning was that the increased lot sizes at both albany and chains end would draw additional traffic away from greenrock and help alieve the crowding.
The new outhouses at albany were supposed to be step one in the process.
lmao.:d
Once you get to know the Forest Service you will realize they are not proposing this lot to benifit snowmobiliers. This new lot will be used to limit the amount of people allowed at Green Rock. Parking lots do very little to cure parking problems. Dumb people will still park stupid in a parking lot! You will have to pay to park there and won't be able to park outside assigned parking areas. The safer route would be to leave it the way it is but I'm guessing the decision has already been made and this comment period is mandated procedure!! My suggestion is if you comment, suggest that they make sure it is going to be big enough to handle current and future use.
Have things changed that much in the last two years? If I remember right you were one of the ones that was pushing the construction of the lot by the switchbacks (I think it might have even been your idea).
It states in the letter that they will continue to allow people to park on the Highway, doesn't say anything about what the fees will be to park, but I am guessing the same rates as Albany.
Not trying to start anything Chris - it just suprised me to see this post from you.
It states in the letter that they will continue to allow people to park on the Highway, doesn't say anything about what the fees will be to park, but I am guessing the same rates as Albany.
Not trying to start anything Chris - it just suprised me to see this post from you.
I'm all for a parking area if it is built to handle current and future use but when they are already trying to figure out what to do with the people that won't be able to park up there you know that this parking area is going to be designed to limit the amount of snowmobiliers who can ride from Green Rock. Once this lot is built a supervisers order will be issued to stop any parking outside of parking areas. If you buy the year pass for Albany it will work for this parking area but if you don't it will cost 5 dollars a day. At least right now as many people who want can park on the Green Rock side. The only reason I got envovled is to make sure this parking lot didn't end up below Hanging Lake. They will not use the switchback location because it was my idea and not theirs, trust me. I have no faith that the Foest Service will do the right thing for snowmobiliers.
As always, public comments are organized and available to the public afterwards..
.. will your name be on the list trying to support this????
Or are you go'in to cry WHY??? because of a lack of support?? Send your comments to: comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-brush-creek-hayden@fs.fed.us
You outta staters; that pay as much taxes as I do and have as much right to ride as I do,,, your voices also mean as much as mine does.
Write in support to..comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-brush-creek-hayden@fs.fed.usyou now have 13 days left!!
T
TurboGuy800
Well-known member
hey guys i have been involved in this for a couple years now and to think that only the parking lot affects us, is to think that if we dont read the rest of the plan cause it isnt directed at snowmobilers then we will be ok, read it all the talk about land management code for we want to change the "usage" which is how hippes lock us out of millions of acres a year, i know i am to late to get you guys to comment but i have been emailing the forest srv a bunch, just haven't been on here lately, ollie good to see you buddy,
i have a map of one of the areas puposed that was the logical and from what the FS has told me sounds like where it is planned for the parking lot... hold on i will find it
i have a map of one of the areas puposed that was the logical and from what the FS has told me sounds like where it is planned for the parking lot... hold on i will find it
T
TurboGuy800
Well-known member
they will leave the trees between the lot and highway and have mentioned that it will be closed all summer open when the rode closes but i am not sure on that
This is going to get interesting!. Hope it flys!
T
TurboGuy800
Well-known member
and the location is a good one, it also leaves room for future expantion
I agree, I just hope they dont lock us down to what it can hold like Medboman is saying. Chris dont you think this would help your business if peeps could be this much closer?
Parking lot controversy brewing
By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press writer
Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:19 PM MDT
CHEYENNE -- People who ride snowmobiles are welcoming plans for a parking lot off the Snowy Range Scenic Byway but environmentalists don't like the idea.
The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance says a scenic byway isn't an appropriate place for a large parking lot. The group also is concerned that a parking lot would encourage more snowmobiling in the Snowy Range -- leading to more noise and pollution and harm to plants and wildlife.
Medicine Bow National Forest is considering a couple of locations for the parking lot. Both are a few miles northwest of Centennial near Wyoming Highway 130, the scenic byway.
Right now, Snowy Range snowmobilers park their trucks and trailers roadside where the highway is closed to regular vehicle traffic for the winter. As many as 150 trucks and trailers can be counted along the road on busy winter weekends, District Ranger Larry Sandoval said Thursday.
"In the wintertime, people aren't just blasting up the highway quite as fast as they would in the summer when it's free of snow. But still, it's a state highway and people can still legally drive 50 mph," he said.
"So there's a real danger with the current situation."
Sandoval said he hadn't heard of accidents or injuries but is sure there have been close calls.
The proposed parking lot would cover up to 10 acres. Snowmobilers no longer would be allowed to park along the road after the parking lot is built, Sandoval said.
That's fine with Andy Thompson, vice president of snowmobile dealership TNT Motorsports in Laramie. Right now, Thompson said, snowmobilers who don't arrive early enough to get a parking spot near the trailhead face a treacherous ride along the road just to get into the forest.
"If you don't get up there early in the morning, you pretty much take your life into your own hands," Thompson said.
Yet the early risers who get the best parking spots often return from riding to find their trucks and trailers blocked in by others, he said. That creates tension.
"Last year, there was a darn near fistfight," Thompson said.
As it is, forest rangers aren't able to sufficiently patrol snowmobiling in the forest and shouldn't do anything to encourage more snowmobiling, said Duane Short, Medicine Bow National Forest specialist for the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
"There's noise and pollution from the fuel that you use, but also the snow compaction, which is not a well-known problem," Short said.
Snowmobiles compact snow, he said, altering snowmelt runoff patterns and delaying the emergence of plants during the springtime. Compacted snow also harms small rodents that burrow under the snow and that can affect the predators that eat those animals, he said.
The problems extend into the forest's wilderness areas, he said, which get snowmobile traffic even though wilderness areas are supposed to be off-limits to vehicles of all kinds.
"That's a perennial problem that we see up there," Short said. "Unfortunately there is no designated trail system up there and they tend to meander."
Sandoval said forest officials do not intend to encourage more snowmobiling.
A recent public comment period on the proposal yielded 253 comments. Short said more than 90 percent opposed the parking lot. Sandoval said about half were form letters and postcards that originated with the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
OK, According to Mr. Short of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, 253 comments with 90% opposed means a score of 228 against-----25 for. Did we only generate 25 or less comments from this forum?? WOW.
By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press writer
Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:19 PM MDT
CHEYENNE -- People who ride snowmobiles are welcoming plans for a parking lot off the Snowy Range Scenic Byway but environmentalists don't like the idea.
The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance says a scenic byway isn't an appropriate place for a large parking lot. The group also is concerned that a parking lot would encourage more snowmobiling in the Snowy Range -- leading to more noise and pollution and harm to plants and wildlife.
Medicine Bow National Forest is considering a couple of locations for the parking lot. Both are a few miles northwest of Centennial near Wyoming Highway 130, the scenic byway.
Right now, Snowy Range snowmobilers park their trucks and trailers roadside where the highway is closed to regular vehicle traffic for the winter. As many as 150 trucks and trailers can be counted along the road on busy winter weekends, District Ranger Larry Sandoval said Thursday.
"In the wintertime, people aren't just blasting up the highway quite as fast as they would in the summer when it's free of snow. But still, it's a state highway and people can still legally drive 50 mph," he said.
"So there's a real danger with the current situation."
Sandoval said he hadn't heard of accidents or injuries but is sure there have been close calls.
The proposed parking lot would cover up to 10 acres. Snowmobilers no longer would be allowed to park along the road after the parking lot is built, Sandoval said.
That's fine with Andy Thompson, vice president of snowmobile dealership TNT Motorsports in Laramie. Right now, Thompson said, snowmobilers who don't arrive early enough to get a parking spot near the trailhead face a treacherous ride along the road just to get into the forest.
"If you don't get up there early in the morning, you pretty much take your life into your own hands," Thompson said.
Yet the early risers who get the best parking spots often return from riding to find their trucks and trailers blocked in by others, he said. That creates tension.
"Last year, there was a darn near fistfight," Thompson said.
As it is, forest rangers aren't able to sufficiently patrol snowmobiling in the forest and shouldn't do anything to encourage more snowmobiling, said Duane Short, Medicine Bow National Forest specialist for the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
"There's noise and pollution from the fuel that you use, but also the snow compaction, which is not a well-known problem," Short said.
Snowmobiles compact snow, he said, altering snowmelt runoff patterns and delaying the emergence of plants during the springtime. Compacted snow also harms small rodents that burrow under the snow and that can affect the predators that eat those animals, he said.
The problems extend into the forest's wilderness areas, he said, which get snowmobile traffic even though wilderness areas are supposed to be off-limits to vehicles of all kinds.
"That's a perennial problem that we see up there," Short said. "Unfortunately there is no designated trail system up there and they tend to meander."
Sandoval said forest officials do not intend to encourage more snowmobiling.
A recent public comment period on the proposal yielded 253 comments. Short said more than 90 percent opposed the parking lot. Sandoval said about half were form letters and postcards that originated with the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
OK, According to Mr. Short of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, 253 comments with 90% opposed means a score of 228 against-----25 for. Did we only generate 25 or less comments from this forum?? WOW.
Hard to Believe
I read the same article in the Caper Star Tribune this morning, I sent in my letter on June 15th. Its hard to believe that only 253 responses were sent, and of that 90% were negative from the B.C.A. in Laramie. This will turn out to be a mess just like the yellowstone ban on snowmobiles. I cant believe some of the statements Mr. Short is saying. If the count is correct it just goes to show what people can do today in the age of computers and text messages. I just hope The forest service will look at the real need and the state tourism board will stand up for the dollars which are generated from the pleasure of riding snowmobiles and help support the new parking lot.
I read the same article in the Caper Star Tribune this morning, I sent in my letter on June 15th. Its hard to believe that only 253 responses were sent, and of that 90% were negative from the B.C.A. in Laramie. This will turn out to be a mess just like the yellowstone ban on snowmobiles. I cant believe some of the statements Mr. Short is saying. If the count is correct it just goes to show what people can do today in the age of computers and text messages. I just hope The forest service will look at the real need and the state tourism board will stand up for the dollars which are generated from the pleasure of riding snowmobiles and help support the new parking lot.
T
TurboGuy800
Well-known member
i have personally sent more than that in my talks with the FS, also they have assured us from the get go that the current parking would remain open for overflow. that was a huge point made when this all started roughly 2 yrs ago so that statement has no factual backing, when you read the article at the top (i think if not pm me and i will email it to you) it speciffically states that it will remain open as well. i like the comment there is no reported parking lot acceidents that he has heard of but many close calls.... ok well pezz havent killed anyone that i know of but we better take them off the shelf, just incase
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