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Supervisor Sweeney recommending the Board direct County Counsel and the Department of Transportation to meet with the Forest Supervisor of the Eldorado National Forest. The purpose of such meeting would be to request, confirm, clarify, or cooperate in verifying or obtaining easements for the roads cited in the document dated October 6, 1992 which was on the Board’s agenda that date as item 17 (archive file # 9931) and which I believe provided easements to the County. Further, to request that the USFS confirm our easement over the property known as Francis Cow Camp and being 160 acres in Sections 11 & 12 T13N, R14 E, MDM as previously proposed on 09-13-11.
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The County of El Dorado was formed February 18, 1850 and the Eldorado National Forest was not established until 1906.
The agreement, which is attached to this agenda item, tendered by the USFS and accepted by the Board October 6, 1992 is at least an agreement to allow continued maintenance by the County on our County roads crossing USFS managed Public Lands. A reading of the Purpose of Agreement and the last paragraph of section 5 of the agreement certainly makes one believe we have rights to continue to maintain the County roads over the USFS lands or the USFS will grant such easements as are required. The last paragraph of section 5 is as follows: “To the extent possible under available authority, each party agrees to convey easements over lands or interests in lands it owns or administers to the other party in order to provide jurisdiction by the appropriate party as may be agreed to for any road or road segment listed on Schedule A”.
Schedule A is a list consisting of thirty five portions of County Maintained Roads that cross USFS managed lands. The need for, and probably the rights of, the County to continue to maintain these roads must not be interfered with by the USFS. The public of this County have used most of these roads for over 150 years. It would seem appropriate for the USFS to...
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