Oregon Hikers

The final Open House is next Thursday, Nov. 21 in Eugene. We need a good turnout. I'm going down from Portland.

How do we publicize this in Eugene?

Eugene:
Thursday, November 21, 6:00-7:30 pm
Hilyard Community Center
2580 Hilyard St., Eugene, OR

The last meeting in Eugene the public was told that the commenting period would be extended. There was also indication that additional information would be provided.

I reached out to Willamette and Deschutes National Forests and I got this back from Deschutes:

Hello, that is true. There was a delay in getting the Federal Register Notice published, which means that the comment period will need to be extended. We will post to our pages when we know the new hard deadline. That said, please feel free to comment as soon as possible!

In the mean time this is my note, and per advice of Keith and others, if you have not already submitted a comment, add this to your opening

Should the comment deadline be extended, or if additional materials become available, I reserve
my right to modify, amend, supplement, or re-submit my comments.

My comments are listed below, with a thanks to Jess for the point about dogs and stock. I say this as a dog owner but the idea I could go backpacking with 4 dogs, or me and 2 horses, and I pay less than a parent and their 17 year old kid for a day or night is ridiculous.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16KCHf ... 9lJAZaDU8u

As the FS has not announced what the extension would be, it is probably prudent to submit your comments by 5pm today in order to make sure they get counted. There is such a massive amount of ineptitude at this point (see: the October fee program "proposal" that lacked any details aside from dollar amounts), that I would not be surprised if they deny "late" comments regardless of whether or not they actually getting around to figuring out (let alone announcing) an extension.

We just sent out the press release, extending the comment period to January 10, 2020.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/deschute ... EPRD681402

MattPetersonFS wrote: ↑

November 26th, 2019, 2:43 pm

We just sent out the press release, extending the comment period to January 10, 2020.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/deschute ... EPRD681402

Thanks, Matt. I noted the PR doesn't give a cut-off time on Jan 10. Presumably written comments would need to be dropped off at your offices before close-of-business, right? But, for example, would an email sent after COB that same day still be considered? There was confusion on that point, during this last go-round. Best to be precise, if you're going to have criteria by which people's voices are silenced.

There isn't a set deadline; the process for commenting on fees is not as prescriptive as it is for NEPA comment periods (where the comment period is set by formal policy/direction).

If you send in the comments by the end of the day, they'll be included in our review and analysis.

The Forest Service has also stated that it will release a "management plan" on this issue (with an undefined release date).

As of today, we are roughly 2/3 through the comment period (Oct. 9-Jan.10) and we still can't review or submit comments on the management plan. In addition, the Forest Service conducted all of its open houses before the management plan was released.

cunningkeith wrote: ↑

December 3rd, 2019, 1:52 pm

The Forest Service has also stated that it will release a "management plan" on this issue (with an undefined release date).

As of today, we are roughly 2/3 through the comment period (Oct. 9-Jan.10) and we still can't review or submit comments on the management plan. In addition, the Forest Service conducted all of its open houses before the management plan was released.

It would be nice to know when to expect this, especially as free time becomes scant for many of us during the holidays. Waiting to learn more.

management plan for fees eh?

and they didn't have it in October... and there's 3 weeks of December left...and we still haven't seen it, or even publicly communicated it will be presented, except in limited dialogues.

Sorry Matt Peterson, but this fee press release seems extremely disorganized, poorly conceived, and poorly laid out to the public. The EA especially made all sorts of lofty mentions about how fees might operate, though of course to comment on fees was 'outside of scope'. The DN specifically mentions the fee "proposal". But the only thing the FS has presented is like a brochure at best, in fact the FS has called it a press release. It comes off entirely half baked.

We've finally posted the Special Recreation Permit Fee Management Plan.

This plan may still change based on public feedback about the proposal, and as you'll see, there are a few details that we haven't finalized (e.g. the volunteer pass). Let us know if you have any thoughts about these details.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 683980.pdf

As a reminder, we extended the comment period until 1/10/2020. You can email us comments at [email protected]