Page 12 - the NOISE April 2014

NICOLE BRANTON:RAY NEW DISTRICT RANGER
TALKS RED ROCK PASS
INTERVIEW BY CINDY COLE
PHOTOS BY CHARLES SEIVERD
of recreation fees in the area, there have been some controversies regarding their implementation. In your previous USFS jobs, have you had any experience directly with recreation fee issues?
Almost anyone with the Forest Service has worked with recreation fees, whether through a formal fee program, concessionaire programs, winter sports operators, or outfitter and guides. On the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grasslands, I worked closely with the Outfitter and Guide programs by reviewing permitted uses to avoid or reduce effects to cultural resources. I was not involved directly with the Mt. Evans fee program, however. I was on the Coronado during fee demo though I wasn’t directly involved with Mt. Lemmon.
In 2010, Sedona resident Jim Smith received a Violation Notice for leaving his parked car at the end of Vultee Arch Road without displaying a Red Rock Pass while he hiked into a nearby wilderness area overnight. His ticket was dismissed and US Magistrate Judge Mark E. Aspey, of Flagstaff, wrote an extensive decision regarding the dismissal.
As a result, the Red Rock Ranger District restructured the boundaries of the Red Rock Pass fee area and created some stand-alone fee sites. As part of these changes, several trailhead parking areas have been developed into Day Use sites so that they include the six amenities required by the Forest Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 (FLREA) for a fee site.
Many community members feel this development is unnecessary and is being done simply to jus- tify fees. For example, the addition of picnic tables to locations like the Jim Thompson Trailhead — an area that has never been a popular location for picnickers but serves primarily as access to trails. Many locals are concerned the development of these sites also makes them ripe for being turned over to concessionaires to manage, something many of our readers have expressed objection to.
What are your thoughts on the development of trailhead parking areas that has occurred in Se- dona over the last few years?
As you know, I started my job less than 6 months ago, so I can’t speak to any trends or why decisions were made in the past. I can tell you the Coconino National Forest and the Red Rock Ranger District in particular has to manage an ever-growing demand for outdoor recreation. Almost 4 million people visit the Red Rock Ranger District every year! That could be an enor- mous impact to the land, especially to our sensitive soils and water.
To protect the beauty of the red rock country while still providing opportunities for visitors to get out and experience it first-hand, we evaluate the needed level of development for each recreation site. Instead of building lots of new recreation sites, we find that it’s often more ef- ficient and less impacting to the environment to modify existing sites so they can be used for multiple purposes.
Rather than creating a new picnic area, it makes more sense to add picnic tables to a place that is already developed with other amenities. Developing a new place would be a fiscal bur- den for taxpayers and because, resource-wise, it makes sense to put that in an already disturbed area. We do not do so simply to charge fees or provide opportunities for concessionaires.
The intention is not to make those concessionaire-run sites — that’s not my intention as we add those things. Where there are the six amenities, then it makes sense to charge a fee because that area is getting used and is eligible to be a fee site.
Our monitoring of recreation satisfaction, where we ask visitors how satisfied they are with our recreation sites, shows the vast majority of visitors are satisfied with those sites.
What about the availability of primitive recreation and those who have concerns about overde- velopment of the area to satisfy the interests of tourism versus true protection and preservation of the resources around Sedona?
Yes, that is one of those areas that is going to be a huge challenge to balance. I hear the concern about overdevelopment and think that reflects one side of those values. And I also hear from many people who are happy that the beauty of the area is so accessible, people who don’t even get out of their cars.
But we also have a lot of wilderness on this district for people who want to get away from
In September 2013, the Red Rock Ranger District (RRRD) of the Coconino National Forest re- ceived a new District Ranger. Nicole Branton took over the district after serving as an arche- ologist on the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (ARP). I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Branton about her new job.
So, welcome to Sedona. How do you like it so far?
I love it! I think I have the best district in the Forest Service! When I applied for this job I indi- cated that I wanted to be on a district where the Forest Service is really relevant to people and where there was a lot of community involvement — so this is exactly what I wanted! I wanted to be more involved in the things people care about. It is one of those be careful what you wish for situations. You have to like hearing different opinions, perspectives and value systems that are not your own for their own sake and not have a bias or an agenda. To just be able to take it in. It’s a perfect place for an anthropologist.
As an archeologist at Roosevelt National Forest for 12 years, what would you say were your great- est challenges and accomplishments there, and how does that role fold into your new career as District Ranger in Sedona?
The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (ARP) is a very dynamic urban forest that serves as the backyard for the communities of Denver, Fort Collins, and Boulder, so there are a lot of similarities to the Coconino NF. My job was primarily ensuring that any project the Forest Service (FS) undertook there did not cause adverse effects to ar- chaeological sites or places that are culturally important to Native American Indian Tribes that historically occupied the forest and grassland. Between that and temporary assignments — as a District Ranger on a National Grassland, as a liaison between the FS and the state of South Dakota, and working on the Forest Service’s strategic plan in our Washington, D.C. office — I’ve worked with just about every program area in the National Forest System.
As an archaeologist, my research was on cultural landscapes and the role places play in dif- ferent cultures, so that too fits the Red Rock district very well. I was always much more inter- ested in the people aspects. It helps me see the same places as having different meanings to different people. A lot of that research had to do with sacred sites, which has helped me to understanding how a wide variety of people value places like the “red rock country” and Fossil Creek. This is a great district for an Anthropologist (my PhD is in Anthropology, even though I worked primarily as an archaeologist) because I have a lot of training in listening to people and considering perspectives and value systems that may be vastly different from my own. That’s actually the reason I wanted to be a District Ranger.
Content-wise, one of my biggest challenges and accomplishments on the ARP was working through environmental compliance in an emerging gas and oil exploration program. There were diverse financial, environmental, and political interests in those projects and that gave me the opportunity to develop a broad set of tools for working through conflict with multiple partners that start out appearing to be completely at odds with one another.
I’ve developed an appreciation for the creativity that can come out of conflict when all the parties come to the table and take ownership of the problem. That approach seems like a per- fect fit for the Red Rock District, where a lot of people have historically seen this landscape as a zero-sum situation (“if your use wins, my resource loses”). I’m much more interested in chang- ing the conversation to how we increase the pie for everybody, while preserving the natural resources that make this place so special.
I learned a lot about addressing conflict and formulating creative solutions where everybody walks away pretty happy with the outcome. I wouldn’t say I like conflict but I place a lot of value on the creative solutions that come out of it. You certainly can’t be afraid of conflict in this job!
As I’m sure you know forest land recreation is a prevalent issue here in Sedona. Locals and visitors alike enjoy all of the outdoor activities that being in Sedona presents. However, since the inception
12 • APRIL 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
INTERVIEW