Public comment needed by July 26, 2021: Red River Gorge Management Planning document

Dear Citizens,

Kentucky Heartwood staff is chipping away at comments for the Red River Gorge Management Planning process. After submitting our first electronic comment, we noticed that comments are actually due by July 26, 2021 by 11:59 pm. This gives the public a little more time to get some comments in! 

Please see our comments below concerning the draft Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for the Red River Gorge Management Plan. 

Here are some specific issues you may want to address in your comments:

• The Forest Service should not violate the Wilderness Act by establishing up to 75 campsites in Wilderness. While the conditions in the Clifty Wilderness are declining, trammelling Wilderness is illegal. "Trammelling" refers to harnessing Wilderness, not trampling the Wilderness. These two ideas are distinctly different. The Forest Service is moving too quickly to absolutely last resort options. See our comemnts for more details.
• The Forest Service needs to obtain and provide consultation and/or concurrence letters from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corp of Engineers before signing an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact. Adaptive management does not allow the agency to push consultation off to a post-decisional process. Please provide these letters on the project documents page on the Daniel Boone National Forest website.
• The Forest Service needs to provide site-specific locations for all campsites, trails, bathrooms (mainly out of floodplain and riparian areas), and other various proposed amenities.
• The Forest Service does not adequately discuss the impacts of rock climbing in any of the plans, though we suppprt that they are sticking to the Forest Plan which states no new bolts or anchors shoudl be placed in the Clifty Wilderness.The Forest Servcie needs to create a Climbing Management Plan for the Red River Gorge and extend the plan to the whole Daniel Boone National Forest.

​Please see our full comment below.

If you wish to submit a comment, please use the following options:

Send in a public comment by July 26, 2021 at 11:59 pm.

Submit an electronic comment here:

https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/CommentInput?project=59892

Submit an email to comments-southern-daniel-boone-cumberland@fs.fed.us

Please place “Red River Gorge Management Planning-Administrative Change” in the subject line.

Mail a letter and postmark it by July 23, 2021 to:

Jonathan P. Kazmierski
Cumberland District Ranger
2375 KY 801 South
Morehead, KY 40351