Craig Bobzien, Forest Supervisor

Hi, I’m Craig Bobzien. I’m the Forest Supervisor. I’d like to describe to you my decision for motorized travel on the Black Hills National Forest.

The Travel Management Rule of 2005 required the Black Hills and all of the other 155 forests and grasslands to develop a future plan for motorized travel.

In designing our future for motorized travel, we had tremendous support and input and involvement from the members of the public. We simply could have not designed such a great plan without your help and I want to thank you for all of your collaboration, your diverse interest and ideas that help me weigh both recreational motorized and non-motorized recreation in designing our plan.

The decision for travel will include 3,150 miles of roads and 700 miles of trails. The motorized trail system will provide a wide variety of experiences. If you are a motorized enthusiast, you will find several loops at various scales located throughout the Forest. You will also find featured destinations for motorized trails. While we also took into very close consideration of non-motorized uses such as hiking and mountain biking that occur across the Forest and located the trails to reflect those interests as well.

The location of the trails also will help to protect the environment as careful consideration was placed into where they occur in the landscape.

I want to thank the members of the public that gave so much time and energy to help us devise the wide range of options that I considered in this plan. Your involvement over the last four years has really helped shape my decision and I want to thank you for all of your effort in doing that.

I encourage you to read the record of decision for the details of the plan. I want to thank you again for your help in designing a balanced plan for the future of motorized travel on the Black Hills National Forest.