Sedona AZ (April 5, 2013) – The Red Rock Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest is seeking public comments on a proposal to increase the maximum allowable number of participants in the Sedona Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K races, as well as extend the term of the permit to five years.
Portions of the course for these races are located on the Coconino National Forest and a special use permit has been issued to the organizers of the event each year since 2006. With expansions to the event and the growing popularity, participation is approaching the current 1,500 person limit. The proposal is to increase the maximum allowable participants by 20% each year over the course of five years to allow for continued growth of the event. If this proposal is approved, the annual capacity would be as follows:
- 1,800 in 2014
- 2,160 in 2015
- 2,590 in 2016
- 3,110 in 2017
- 3,730 in 2018
All the activities to be approved under the event would occur on developed National Forest system roads.
Comments should be submitted within 30 days from the publication of the legal notice in the Red Rock News. Comments can be mailed to Heather Provencio, District Ranger at P.O. Box 20429, Sedona, AZ 86341, faxed to 928-203-7539, or emailed to comments-southwestern-coconino-redrock@fs.fed.us. Comments can also be submitted by calling Jeff Gilmore, Recreation Special Uses Permit Administrator, at 928-203-7525.
Additional information regarding this proposed action can be obtained online at http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/coconino/landmanagement/projects.
1 Comment
Of course the Sedona Marathon should be allowed their special use permit. As a participant in the first annual marathon, completing the marathon in 5:54:02, I was excited to be able to be a participant and enjoyed watching it grow over the years. It was a wonderful experience to run and walk among the canyons west of Thunder and Bear Mountains. I cherish the experience.
Furthermore, Sedona is based on tourism. It feeds our economy, and without it many tourism based businesses would not survive, mine (Sedona Red Rock Adventures) being one of them. The Sedona Marathon brings in visitors from all over the world, and these visitors stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, and shop at our many galleries and shops. It is a great thing for our community.
To me it’s just sad that our local forest service takes such a Stalin like approach in overzealous control of the usage of the people’s forest. For the forest belongs to us, the people of Sedona and every other US citizen. It is not owned by Red Rock Ranger District! It’s really unfortunate the hoops that great organizations such as the Sedona Marathon must jump through just to deal with our local forest service.
I remember when I ran the first marathon, and how saddened I was to see that Red Rock Ranger District was allowing The Arie subdivision to pave Boynton Pass Road so their owners can take a paved road to The Arie’s high end gated community. This is a perfect example of how these local bureaucrats such as Jeff Gilmore overstep their authority when the mass public should be their concern, not some private subdivision who is willing to pay enough cash for their very exclusive community with just forty homesites.
This is just another example of how the US government and its many subagencies is in bed with the corporate America. I imagine it it were Pink Jeep running the marathon, Red Rock Ranger District would be bending over backwards to let them do whatever they wanted.
Note to forest service: We the people of Sedona love and embrace the Sedona Marathon. Please allow them to continue the good they are doing and increase their usage capacity. This is good for everyone, including the Red Rock Ranger District, for without all the legal outfitter guides in Sedona paying hefty fees to share the majestic beauty of our public lands, you all would be without a job!