San Rafael Valley Roads Closures

A quick update on what we have been doing with the San Rafael Valley gate closures.

SAQF set up and attended a meeting this week with representatives from Coronado National Forest (CNF) and AZ G&F.   The meeting was called to formulate the way forward to reopen road access to public land in San Rafael valley after gate closures in Meadow Valley and Red Rock Canyon previously reported to you.  The meeting was held at the federal building in downtown Tucson. Forest leadership appears to be totally onboard with improving road access for the public.

This meeting was offered and agreed at our previous meeting with the forest supervisor in September.  Neither landowner appears to show any interest in reopening gates in spite of incentives offered by AZ G&F.  As a result, the focus is to build roads bypassing the private land.

Meadow Valley.  The engineering team from the CNF with support from G&F has proposed a route to bypass the Meadow Valley closure.  They plan to walk the proposed route within the next 30 days before setting up a NEPA (national environmental policy act) study within the next few months.  A NEPA study is required before roadwork can actually start.  The actual road construction will take less time than completing and reviewing the NEPA study.  At a minimum the access will likely remained closed for this hunting season and the next unless the landowner decides to reopen the gates.

Red Rock Canyon.  Potential bypasses for the Red Rock closure have been considered but none are currently available on public land.  There are other ongoing proposals involving changes to the Arizona Trail and the Rosemont mine which may change this.  As a result, a bypass for this closure is further in the future when other factors may line up.  If a solution is found to the Meadow Valley closure, then road access behind the Red Rock closure will subsequently be available (albeit a longer access route).

The Coronado Forest and G&F are also working other potential and actual closures with the goal of either perpetual easements or roads built on public land.  Work on these is also starting in the near future.

We are going to continue these meetings on a quarterly basis with SAQF working the scheduling.  In addition, we are working to keep other outdoor groups from the area informed of our progress.  If required, we are prepared to join with them along with Government Affairs out of QF staff to work this through the political process with additional meetings, letter writing and phone calls.

Please respect the land and landowners whether you are on private or public land.  Leave the gates in the proper position, pick up you trash (and trash from others), keep speed and dust down, be careful around livestock and don’t trash roads by driving on them when they are very muddy.