Mississippi National Forests:
National Forests in Mississippi: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/ 100 W. Capitol Street Suite 1141 Jackson, MS. 39269 (601) 965-1600 The National Forest in Mississippi is made up of six separate forests, which are all doing their Travel Management Plans at the same time. The Forest released their Proposed Action (PA) for Travel Management Rule Implementation on the National Forests in Mississippi on September 11, 2007. They accepted comments on this PA until October 20, 2007. The District Proposed Action Travel Maps are available on their website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/travel/index.shtml.
The EA for the forest is just about completed the forest expects to release it by mid April 2008. They plan to release their final decision sometime in June or July 2008. The Forests are currently open to cross country travel, except for closures due to damage, until the completion of the route designation process.
For more information, you can contact Jeff Gainey, Recreation Program Manager and lead for the travel plan team at (601) 965-1617 or by email to [email protected]. If you wish to get on a mailing list, you can contact individual forests which are listed below, to receive information on all the forests, contact Jeff. The Forest’s Travel Management website is http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/travel/index.shtml.
Bienville National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/bienville/ 3473 Hwy. 35 South, Forest, MS 39074, (601) 469-3811
Delta National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/delta/ 20380 Hwy 61, Rolling Fork MS 39159, (662) 873-6256
De Soto National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/desoto/ P.O. Box 248, 654 West Frontage Road, Wiggins, MS 39577, (601) 928-4422
Holly Springs National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/hollysprings/ 1000 Front Street, Oxford, MS 38655, (662) 236-6550
Homochitto National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/homochitto/ 1200 Hwy 184 East, Meadville, Ms. 39653, (601) 384-5876
Tombigbee National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/mississippi/tombigbee/ P.O. Box 912, Hwy 15 South, Ackerman, MS 39735, (662) 285-3264
National Forests in Mississippi Discussion Points for Travel Management Planning
Game Retrieval and Dispersed Camping
• The intent of the travel management rule is to eliminate motorized cross-country travel on National Forest system lands • Exceptions were created in the rule to address the need for game retrieval and dispersed camping • The rule directs that these exceptions are to be applied sparingly, if at all • The options available to address game retrieval and dispersed camping include: o identifying corridors of a specified distance (along designated routes) within which game retrieval and dispersed camping with use of an off-highway vehicle (OHV) could be allowed o issuing individual permits
New Trail Construction or Designating User-created Routes
• There are currently designated OHV trails located on four of the seven Ranger Districts in the National Forests in Mississippi • It is expected that some collaborators might desire designated OHV routes on districts that do not currently have such designations • Those districts that do not currently have designated OHV routes are open to suggestions from our collaborators about considering new trail construction or designating user-created trails