News from the Forest Service concerning the gate at 151.

Winter has finally arrived and the District is starting to implement our
seasonal winter gate program.  Sorry for the short notice but Forest Road
151 (both north and south ends) and 794 gates are now closed.  As of today,
December 7, all three gates are dummy locked but will be locked tomorrow
morning.  We want to get pertinent information out to you about how we're
asking you to use and protect the road, natural resources, your and
visitors safety.
 
For you to access the area by automobile or truck, we are asking that you
only drive the road when conditions are such that you will not unreasonably
damage the road surface. You may wonder, well what does that  mean? In our
mind that would mean when conditions of the road bed are such that you do
not create deep ruts, e.g. ruts more than an inch or so deep - perhaps like
during monsoon season when we get large rain events. Otherwise, please make
alternate plans for accessing your properties.
 
Forest Road 151 gates will have two locks on them; one being a Forest
Service keyed lock, and the other a combination lock for your use. The
combination for your lock will be XXXX for now, and could be changed in the
future if the it gets out to too many unauthorized folks and we start
having open gate problems, safety issues, road damage, etc. Please keep the
combination confidential. We'd appreciate it if you'd share it with other
property owners in the area, though, as we don't have all their e-mail
addresses or other location information. Please make sure that once we
swing the gates shut for the season you help us keep them shut until spring
when we can reopen them. Please be sure to lock the gate behind you, and
let us know if you observe or have any problems using the dual locking
system.
 
Last year we had a few problems with someone tossing our gate pins and FS
Yale lock off to the side  because they couldn't figure it out or didn't
want to take the time to lock it correctly.  We are available if anyone
needs a demonstration on how to lock the gate with dual locks.  It is
critical to keep both locks on the gate for public safety and emergency
response.
 
Please visit our forest service web site to obtain updated information for
the Coconino National Forest's seasonal road closures at
www.coconinoforest.us
or call Peaks Ranger Station, 928-526-0866, or Supervisor’s Office,
928-527-3600.
 
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this process.  Hope
you have a great winter, holidays, and we get lots of snow!
 
 
 
Christa Roughan
Recreation Planner
Coconino National Forest
Peaks/Mormon Lake Ranger Districts
5075 North Highway 89
Flagstaff, AZ  86004-2852
wk# (928) 527-8229
fax# (928) 527-8288
croughan@fs.fed.us
 

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