Residents voice concern for proposed equestrian closure by Forest Service

The Red Rock Ranger District held a public meeting on the proposed Red Rock Trails Access Plan for a standing room only crowd of around 90 attendees at its district office on Dec. 5.

While this is the typical process for public input when a federal agency proposes to undertake a  major action in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, this is the only public meeting to take place during the public comment period.

U.S. Forest Service representatives provided a 20-minute overview of the proposal, which involves several projects around Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek and one in Cornville. However, while attendees wanted to have a formal question-and answer session with USFS representatives, staff kept trying to move into informal breakout sessions between residents and staff.

“When we have public meetings, the open house style allows us to get engaged with individuals and make sure that all individuals’ questions are answered,” District Ranger Amy Tinderholt said when asked about the resistance. “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish with the open house.”

The proposed trail enhancements will be focused on the Turkey Creek area west of Verde Valley School Road, where 20.17 miles of new trail would be constructed and the existence of 10.9 miles of social trails accepted by the Forest Service.

The main concern that residents raised during the meeting was the proposed elimination of equestrian use in part of the Turkey Creek area, which would bar riders from approximately 10 miles of the newly-constructed trails.

“Equestrian use would be closed in some areas due to safety issues related to slickrock and narrow, exposed sections above steep drop-offs; trails closed to equestrians would be south of Turkey Creek and west of the geologic feature known as Napoleon’s Tomb,” the proposal stated.

Tinderholt was unable to cite any specific safety incidents involving equestrian users in the proposed closure area.

“I don’t believe many [horse riders] are using the area where some of those trails are proposed,” Tinderholt said. “But I think that’s part of the good conversations we were having with folks last night. It may be better to help users understand what the potential risks of a trail are, and allow them to make those decisions for themselves. So those are the types of things that we’re trying to consider.”

However, horse riders who do make use of the proposed closure area were in attendance.

“There are no trails in Sedona open to horses, where you have these kinds of views, it’s just utterly stunning,” resident Chip Lawrence said, scrolling through his photos of rides in the proposed closure area.

The Verde Valley School’s equestrian program takes its students into the proposed closure area either via a social trail directly off its property or by riding down their driveway and turning onto Verde Valley School Road. “Since the founding of  Verde Valley School in [1948] they’ve always had horses and a horse program is one of our major programs. And we had been riding in that area for 60 to 70 years,” VVS equestrian instructor Jeff Perkins said. “If they close it down, it would impact us. Big time.”

Perkins said that if the equestrian closure is imposed, it would not be the end of the program and they would change the route they take; however, he added, that would put student riders into closer proximity to other trail users and would be counterproductive to the Red Rock Trails Access Plan’s stated goals.

VVS representatives also expressed security concerns and called for a larger buffer space between the trails and their buildings. “That is very high on our priority list by virtue of the fact that we have children in our care and custody who we have to protect and keep safe,” VVS Board of Trustees Chairwoman Tamara Cook said. “It’s a tough enough job as it is, and then when you compound that by having open trails to perfect strangers, 99.9% of whom I’m sure are well meaning and harmless. But it removes any buffer and it also removes any control that we have to access to the campus.”

USFS representatives have scheduled a meeting with Verde Valley School administrators for Friday, Dec. 15, and were unable to comment on the school’s concerns prior to the meeting.

“We have a lot of respect and gratitude for the Forest Service and are grateful and appreciative that they are looking to  upgrade a number of the trails, not only adjacent to our campus, but also in  the broader Verde Valley,” Head of School Ben Lee said. “We look forward to being able to enjoy some of the enhancements … Our concerns are pretty significant and yet, we are optimistic we’ll be able to partner with the Forest Service and with other community groups and users to hopefully mitigate all the areas of concern.”

“The proposal as it stands now has several trails that are just feet away from our campus border,” Lee said. “Specifically, one trail that runs directly behind our main girls’ dormitory — it’s less than 10 feet away from the back entrances of our girls’ dormitory. I am hopeful our conversations with the Forest Service will allow us to have some compromise so we can have some sort of buffer in between what could be hundreds of hikers every single day passing right by the building, where 14- to 18-year-old girls have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

Attendees also expressed concern for the potential for more traffic along Verde Valley School Road from the increase in trail mileage and because the Turkey Creek Trailhead parking lot would be expanded from being able to accommodate six to 30 vehicles.

“The Forest Service does not do any sort of road capacity studies typically before we develop projects,” Tinderholt said. “We largely develop projects, and the infrastructure is based on the experience that we want to have at those recreation facilities. … We’ll continue to work with the county on Verde Valley School Road and how we try to prevent parking from growing along that road, which is always an issue.”

The Forest Service proposal is available online under “Red Rock Trails Access Plan” on fs.usda.gov.

Comments can be made online under the tab “Comment/Object on Project” on the right of the page.

Comments can also be mailed to: Red Rock Ranger District, Attention: Red Rock Trails Enhancement, P.O. Box 20429, Sedona, AZ 86341.

The public comment period closes on Tuesday, Dec. 19, with a decision expected in March and implementation anticipated to start in April.