The U.S. Forest Service closed the initial public comment period on the addition of approximately 39 miles of non-motorized trails to the district on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The largest proposed project would involve building 20 miles of trails in the Turkey Creek trail system and formally recognizing 10.9 miles of existing unofficial trails.

The Forest Service will release an updated proposal for the Turkey Creek trails project before the summer, which will be followed by a second comment period. The district has not announced if it will hold a second public meeting on the proposal following the comment period.

A decision for the areas in the Red Rock Trails Access Plan outside of the Turkey Creek area is anticipated in March, which will affect proposed trail projects near the Oak Creek Elementary School in Cornville, the Schuerman Trail Connector near Red Rock High School, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock and Doe Mountain. Implementation of those projects is anticipated to start in April.

“We may not include the other trail projects in a second comment period; those may go forward to decision directly,” District Ranger Amy Tinderholt said. “We still need to work through all of our comments to really understand that.”

Since the initial public comment period closed, the Forest Service has received over 200 letters and 500 individual comments, most of which deal with the Turkey Creek area. While the district has not yet released the public comments, the nonprofit Big Park Regional Coordinating Council did include comments from the office of Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels, the Verde Valley School, Back Country Horsemen and Horse Mesa Ranch in a Dec. 19 email stating those individuals’ and groups’ concerns over a proposed equestrian closure in the Turkey Creek area.

VVS also uses the proposed closure area for its equestrian program and is concerned about an increase in traffic from the proposed expansion of the Turkey Creek Trailhead from six parking spots to 30.

“The current proposal eliminates equestrian use in significant portions of these areas. We recognize there are reasonable exceptions to warrant departure from multi-user trail design,” the Back Country Horsemen wrote in the BPRCC email. “There are such opportunities to explore in the identification and design of portions of trails in the proposal area. We look forward to participating in that process.”

“The proposed formalization of social trails directly adjacent to our campus — specifically within feet of the Sears girls’ dormitory complex — introduces significant security and privacy issues for our female boarding students,” the school wrote in a Dec. 15 memo on its meeting with the Forest Service. “We would like to partner with the Forest Service to ensure an adequate buffer zone between our campus and what is expected to be significant foot and bike traffic.”

Forest Service representatives met with Verde Valley School administrators on Dec. 15 at the campus and toured the grounds.

The project record for the Red Rock Trails Access Plan is considered to be one project, but the Forest Service will render a separate decision for the Turkey Creek area.

“With Turkey Creek, we decided that we want to spend a little bit more time with our individual interested parties and with the comments and really understand how we could improve the project proposal,” Tinderholt said