A plan concerning the use of more than 230,000 acres of Sierra Foothills land was submitted three weeks ago without comment from the Amador County Board of Supervisors.

While the board did not comment officially, John Scull, a BLM representative from the Folsom office, said that is not uncommon. Out of the 15 affected counties, only two boards of supervisors submitted comments during the comment period. District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster said that although the board discussed the draft Sierra Resource Management Plan, they had "no substantial comments" to make on the plan, and thus did not submit any.

The Bureau of Land Management's proposed Sierra Resource Management Plan replaces a similar one written in 1983 and was released for comment last December. It addresses increased population and changing usage of Sierra Foothills land. The new report pays special attention to recreation use of public land in the rapidly growing areas of the Sierra Foothills, preservation of endangered or "special attention" species such as the Red Hills Roach and limestone salamander, and designating key rivers as wild and scenic. Also included are details for fire suppression programs involving the clearing of brush and other fuel from public land

"This plan helps define the role of BLM land in meeting the public's need for open space," said Bill Haigh, BLM Folsom Field Office manager.

The BLM received more than 2,000 comments on the draft RMP, all of which were addressed or responded to before publication of the final draft. Most of the comments regarded the North Fork of the Mokelumne River, which is slated to be designated a wild and scenic location. Other issues that received comment included plans for maintenance and access to woodland hiking trails, concerns over BLM use of pesticides and implementation of controlled fires to clear potential wildfire fuel.

Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright lodged several comments on the draft RMP. "I think they did very well managing the comments and citizen input," Wright said. "The scope of the BLM is so large, that community involvement is necessary."

District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto was not seated on the board until after the official comment period had ended, and was "very unhappy" that he was unable to comment in an official capacity. Oneto will attempt to submit late comments to the BLM regarding several topics that are important to his constituents.

Of special concern to Oneto is the designation of portions of the Mokelumne River as wild and scenic. "Any time you (designate a river), there are a lot of restrictions that go in, and that river is an important source of water," Oneto said. He also addressed the RMP's stance on off-highway recreational vehicles, the use of privately held land along a "wild and scenic" river, the restriction on new mining ventures along the Mokelumne River and the use of BLM land for local ranchers who rent public land to graze cattle.

Oneto also voiced concerns about designating tracts of land with a class-1 visual resource management designation. A class-1 management designation states that the land should see "little to no" visual change. Oneto is concerned that lands designated thus would be unavailable for salvage logging and that the land would not see proper fire protection measures due to fear of infringing on the visual resource management designation.

"There isn't a framework for late comments, or protests. To submit one you would first have to demonstrate that you were unable to make one on time, due to some BLM fault," said Heather Feeney, a representative of the BLM's Washington D.C. office. The most likely source of BLM error regarding comments would be neglecting to publish the release of the document in the Federal Register, but the Sierra RMP received proper notification.

"It's kind of like turning in your homework; nobody would ever do it on time if you could just do it whenever you felt like it. Nothing would ever get done," Feeney said.

Oneto feels that the BLM's notification process is lacking. "How many people check the Federal Register?" he asked. "It would really be great if the BLM could notify local newspapers of these meetings, it would get the word out."

While Oneto's comments may not be officially documented, Scull said the plan is not an end-all for the area. "We will still consult with the board of supervisors on specific projects that concern their districts or residents," Scull said.