Cibola National Forest hosting planning meetings

Work underway on a revised resource management plan for the Cibola National Forest includes the potential designation of new wilderness areas in the Sandia Ranger District. Marta Call, public affairs officer for the Cibola National Forest, said the public is being asked to comment on and contribute to the process at public meetings. She said the public is welcome to evaluate areas under consideration for classification as wilderness, a designation that would prohibit activities such as biking. “This is everybody’s forest,” Call said. “We want to know the community needs.” The revised plan applies to all four of the Cibola’s mountain districts – Mount Taylor, Magdalena, Mountainair and Sandia. A series of public meetings is scheduled so that people in each of these areas have a chance to see what’s being considered regarding wilderness, recreation and other services and resources. The Cibola has been working with 30 government units – cities, counties, tribes, land grants, state and federal agencies and soil and water conservation districts – to develop the new plan and co-host public meetings. These agencies have formed landscape teams to work on plans for each of the four mountain districts. “What happened in the past is that forest specialists would sit down and talk about their vision,” Call said. “Landscape committees are made up of people who live in the community. They helped fine tune our strategy, to fine tune our maps. We don’t want people to have to be a biologist to understand our strategy.” Brenda Smythe of the Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District is the contact person for the Sandia landscape team...more