Industry-backed off-road vehicle users want more motorized routes in the Coconino National Forest. Or, depending upon your perspective, they want to ensure that they don't lose ground in a CNF plan to keep off-road vehicles (ORVs) on designated roads and trails.

Even though CNF officials propose prohibiting all cross-country motorized travel within the National Forest, their plan will also designate thousands of miles of roads and a large swath of land for ORV use – a plan opposed by a consortium of conservation groups that says it would fragment wildlife habitat, cause erosion, damage watershed and disrupt the natural quiet.

The CNF Motorized Travel Management Rule Proposed Action would prohibit off-road driving throughout the forest while, ironically, giving ORV users some roads that drivers have illegally created by ignoring existing off-road travel prohibitions. The plan would also close some roads and allow ORV access to dispersed campsites.

The proposal is a give-and-take that CNF is trying to work out between mutually exclusive groups, and amounts to deciding which and how much public land to specify for ORV use while establishing a blanket prohibition on them everywhere else in the forest.

“While the Proposed Action will significantly reduce miles of National Forest System roads, we intend to maintain adequate motorized access to the forest,” CNF Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure says on the CNF website. “In conjunction with existing motorized trails and the Cinder Hills OHV area, the Proposed Action would result in approximately 3,950 miles of designated roads and trails and one 13,711-acre area open to motor vehicles on the forest.”

To educate the public on the impacts of the CNF plan, the consortium of  the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, Grand Canyon Trust, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club is hosting an open house in Prescott on Wednesday, Aug. 1 from 6pm - 7:30pm at the Prescott College San Juan Building, 370 Garden Street. Review maps of the proposed ORV road system, see where it encroaches on crucial wildlife habitat and fragile watershed, and learn to write an effective comment to CNF on the proposal.

There's no charge, but your pre-registration will ensure there will be enough refreshments on hand. Contact Sam Frank in Prescott at (928) 717-6076 or Liz Boussard in Flagstaff at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or (928) 527-3809 for more information.

For another perspective, CNF officials are also hosting public meetings on the matter in August. For more info visit their website at www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/.