Katrina writes:
<<If J1299 was an existing open route, then it should have been included in the public comment process when discussing the route designation for the area. All interested members of the public should have been able to comment on these routes. Have you checked the minutes to the meetings to ascertain if J1299 was in the public discussion?>>
J1299 was not on any previous maps and was not included in public discussion prior to publishing the Decision Record, CDCA Plan Amendment in June 2003. That is the reason for the subsequent public protest.
<<If J1299 was in existence on the topo map of 1976, it could be subject to being claimed as an open route by the County under RS2477. If someone just created a trail across private lands that is trespassing and vandalism of private property.>>
RS2477 does not apply to routes on private lands. Also, to correct a current misconception, J1299 is entirely within the ACEC and does not cross private land.
<<I believe that the BLM did not notify the private land owners of these meetings that would affect their property so that the private land owners could be part of the decision process. I repeatedly requested to be on their mailing or notification list so that I could notify people of these meetings and attend some myself. The BLM intentionally did not inform me of these meetings until near the end when most everything had been decided. In addition, I requested that the BLM notify private land owners in the area of these meetings.>>
That is absolutely correct. We were excluded.
<<The BLM have been paid to protect the Indian Cultural Artifacts. They were paid to erect a large fence around one such area (the fence was never put in) and they were paid to place gravel caps on top of the artifacts that were in places near or on a road. The BLM were budgeted annual funding for monitoring these Indian Cultural sites. I think that an examination of their funding versus their records of billing for these purposes would be very interesting. Did they in fact monitor these sites?>>
None of this work has been done.