ABQjournal: Plan Would Close Some SF Forest Roads By Adam Rankin, Journal Staff Writer

The Coyote Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest has a problem: too many open roads — 1,860 miles of them, or about 2.7 miles of road per square mile of forest, to be exact.

That density, the highest of any Southwestern national forest, puts the district out of compliance with its management plan, which seeks to keep road densities under 2.5 miles per square mile of forest for optimal watershed health.

“The primary concern is that we simply have more roads than we can maintain, and we have more roads than we need,” said Coyote Ranger District resource planner John Phillips.