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← Mission 20 · Roby timber
MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·20
Mission 20 · Black Hills National Forest, SD

Roby timber

Black Hills National Forest

The agency files it as “Roby Forest Management Project”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on October 5. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“There are no developed recreation areas, non-motorized trails, wilderness areas, or wilderness study areas within or adjacent to the project area.”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Recreation. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Drive and walk the Roby project area near the Antelope Springs trailhead and along Boles Canyon, Redbird Canyon and Gillette Canyon roads, looking for any hiking-only trail or developed recreation site. A photo of a signed foot trail, campground, picnic area, toilet or fee post inside or right beside the project area.

The decision

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing the Roby Forest Management Project on the Hell Canyon Ranger District of the Black Hills National Forest. The project would include timber harvest, fuel reduction, prescribed fire, road improvements, meadow restoration, and riparian restoration. The public is invited to submit written comments on the proposal.

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the trailhead or access point with the vehicles in it. Count them and note the time and day.
  2. 02Photograph the pull-off camp spots outside any campground, the fire rings, and the worn paths that show people come here.
  3. 03Sit for a fixed time and count people passing and what they are doing.
  4. 04Write down what you know about how this place gets used across a year.
What would count
  • A vehicle count with the day and time. Weekends and weekdays both, if you can.
  • Fire rings and sites the document says aren’t there.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.