by Jo Schaper

Mark Twain National Forest road closures in the Otter Creek/Twin Ponds area are currently being called to task via a letter-writing campaign to Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson. Douglas Oliver, District Ranger of the Poplar Bluff Ranger District, says the work is progressing but that proper procedure and notification were followed.

Traveler publisher Emery Styron encountered one of the petition letters in Ellington in early August. The letter states that the Forest Service gave no public notice, and that closing the roads will stop hunting and camping in the area. He was told Mr. Tim Stucker was conducting the letter-writing campaign.

“We have some road management active in the northeast corner of the district: north of Ellsinore and south of Piedmont,” Oliver said. “It’s part of an overall approved plan to close non-system roads. We’ve got 2300 miles of system roads, and these segments are about seven and a half miles of two-track logging road. If a road isn’t numbered, it’s considered legally closed.”

“One individual has gotten concern about this,” Oliver said. “There are two such closure projects. Both went through the NEPA [public comment] process in 2006 and 2007. We’re just getting the funding to do the work now.”

According to Forest Service documents with 2006 dates, the Otter Creek road closures consist of 15 segments, with the longest single segment being very slightly under a mile, to three segments just over one-tenth mile. The Compartment 84 area decommissions three segments, the largest of which is six-tenths of a mile.

“It’s a large number of short roads,” said Oliver. “They are already illegal to drive on.”

He said water bars, large rocks and other means were being used to render the roads impassible by vehicles. “These aren’t real roads. We’re doing it so people don’t accidentally get back in there and get in trouble—either stuck, or with our law enforcement officers.”

Traveler attempted twice to reach Mr. Stucker via a furnished phone number, but our calls were not returned