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Forest Service opens comment period for Berlaimont Estates road project

MINTURN — The scoping comment period for the Berlaimont Estates Road Enhancement Project opened Friday for 45 days after the official publication of the notice of intent in the federal register. Comments received through the scoping period will help the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District develop and refine alternatives for the environmental assessment process.

“We had great discussion and questions at our informational meeting on Sept. 7,” Eagle-Holy Cross District Ranger Aaron Mayville said. “I encourage everyone interested to submit formal comments and let us know what you think at the next public meeting — your comments will really help us shape the range of alternatives that we’ll look at during our environmental analysis.”

The district will host another informational meeting about the proposal and process Oct. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Holy Cross Ranger Station, located at 24747 U.S. Highway 24 in Minturn. For more information, call the district at 970-827-5715.



Berlaimont Estates developers submitted an application to the White River National Forest to construct, improve, utilize and maintain road segments across the National Forest System lands in support of their desired development of their property — a 680-acre private inholding entirely surrounded by National Forest lands. The property is located north of Edwards.

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Specifically, Berlaimont is proposing to improve segments of the existing forest roads 774 and 780, as well as construct a new road segment across additional Forest Service lands in order to more directly access the northern portion of their property. Their proposed improvements consist of constructing a paved asphalt road with a gravel shoulder, vehicle turnouts, retaining walls, traffic signs, guardrails, erosion control facilities and drainage facilities. The Forest Service will be analyzing this proposal along with a wider range of potential alternatives.

Through the development of the environmental assessment, Forest Service officials will analyze the potential effects of issuing an authorization to improve segments of two National Forest System roads as they lead up to the southeastern corner of the Berlaimont property from local public roads in Edwards. The range of alternatives to be considered will likely include an additional road segment continuing to the northern portion of the Berlaimont property or other alternatives for access to the upper portion of the property. The development proposal on the private land is not part of this analysis as private land development falls within the jurisdiction of Eagle County.

Project information can be found on the White River National Forest website: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=50041. For additional information concerning the project, contact: Project Leader Matt Klein, 970-827-5182 or by email, matthewklein@fs.fed.us. To subscribe to project updates, including receiving emails regarding upcoming opportunities to comment, go to: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAFS/subscriber/new?topic_id=NEPA_50041_S.

There will be a 45-day comment period initiated by the publication of a notice of intent in the federal register. There will also be another opportunity to comment on this project following the release of the draft environmental impact statement. The notice of intent was published on Friday. The Forest Service is seeking input from interested members of the public.

More information can be obtained from Matt Klein, realty specialist for the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District, by emailing matthewklein@fs.fed.us or calling 970-827-5182.


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