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Superintendent Paul Anderson today announced that the National Park
Service (NPS) has published and is distributing a newsletter that
presents five preliminary alternatives for managing the use of off
road vehicles (ORVs) by federally qualified subsistence users in
the new park additions near Cantwell. The NPS is inviting the public
to submit comments and suggestions on these preliminary alternatives
prior to the development of the alternatives for the environmental
assessment (EA). Based on these comments, the alternatives will
be refined and presented, along with an analysis of impacts, in
the EA that will be released this summer.
In July 2005, the NPS made a final determination that the community
of Cantwell had used ORVs for successive generations for subsistence
purposes in portions of the Denali Park additions before the establishment
of the Denali National Monument in 1978. The portions of the park
affected by this determination are called the Cantwell traditional
ORV use area. The determination opened the entire Cantwell traditional
ORV use area to the use of ORVs for subsistence purposes by federally
qualified Cantwell residents. The National Park Service is now in
the process of developing alternatives for managing this use to
minimize adverse impacts to park resources from ORV use, while also
providing reasonable access for subsistence purposes.
Public open houses will be held to discuss these alternatives at
the following times and locations:
Tuesday, April 4 - Cantwell
Cantwell Community Center
Open House from 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 5 - Anchorage
Egan Center, Lower Level, Space 5
555 W. 5th Avenue
Open House from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Comments may be submitted at any time during the planning process,
but will be most helpful if received by April 14, 2006 . Comments
may be submitted by fax to (907) 683-9612 or by regular mail to:
Superintendent
Denali National Park and Preserve
P.O. Box 9
Denali, AK 99755
Comments may also be sent electronically through the National Park
Service’s Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC)
program located on the new NPS public comment website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov
. Once at this site, select “Denali NP&P” from the
list of parks. On the Denali page, select “Cantwell ORV Environmental
Assessment” from the list of projects. The newsletter will
be found under “Documents and Links.” Instructions for
commenting also will be found there.
-NPS-
Privacy
& Disclaimer
Author:Jane
Ahernl
www.nps.gov/akso
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