A resident told the Baker County Board of Commissioners on July 16 that miners are encountering restricted road access on Forest Service land and urged the county to assert its role on public-right-of-way issues as the U.S. Forest Service revises the Blue Mountain Forest Plan.

“I’ve had several miners complain to me that the road access of Forest Service is blocking their right their lawful access to the mining claims,” Arthur Sappington said during the public-comment period. He told commissioners county roads historically provide public roadway access “up to but not into the mining claims.”

Sappington also told the board he believes there is confusion inside the Forest Service following the federal announcement that the USDA’s roadless rule has been rescinded. “There’s a lot of information and confusion right now within the Forest Service because of the Blue Mountain revisionary plan,” he said, and he noted Baker County’s public meeting on the Blue Mountain Forest Plan revision is scheduled for July 22 with doors opening at 4:30 p.m.

Why it matters: the Blue Mountain Forest Plan revision covers management of roads and roadless inventories across multiple national forests and could affect access to public lands, county road coordination and local uses such as mining and grazing. County staff and commissioners said they will monitor the draft and the NEPA process and encouraged the public to review the document and comment at the upcoming public meeting.

What commissioners noted: staff said it can take six months to a year for federal processes to reach any final effect and urged residents to track planned meetings and the draft in the federal register. Commissioners also raised concerns about species-of-concern listings and other draft elements that may affect local land use and forest management.

Next steps: the county will attend the July 22 public meeting and follow the NEPA process for the plan revision; residents were encouraged to submit formal comments through Forest Service channels during the public-comment period.