With the upcoming Memorial Day holiday quickly approaching it is important that those heading to the Manti LaSal National Forest for the holiday to camp need to remember some important housekeeping rules. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Public Affairs Officer, Samantha Stoffregen to talk about the details.
The Forest Service is asking the public to please recreate responsibly and respect the rules in place on the Forest. ‘Pack it in, pack it out.’ “So this is essentially the cardinal rule for camping. If you are bringing it on the forest floor with you, it should be leaving with you. If you got room in your vehicle for it as your drive-in, you have room in the vehicle when you come out. This is everything from the nails that you use to hang things up on, or the trash that you produced during your visit or your plates and your camping equipment. It all needs to leave with you when you are done,” stated Stoffregen. All trashed should be taken with you as you leave and not left inside restrooms and/or at campsites.
Right at this moment, there is no fire restrictions on the Manti LaSal National Forest but that can change very quickly. “However, we are stressing that it is very, very dry on the forest floor and campers and visitors need to be cognizant of the campfires they are building. Because you don’t want an unattended 10 minute campfire to leave a 100 plus year scar on the forest. So it’s important to just maintain low small campfires and make sure that when do go leave it its not too hot to touch, if it’s too hot to touch its too hot to leave,” explained Stoffregen. A good reminder to put out a fire is to make sure you soak the coals with water, stir and repeat until the fire and coals are fully extinguished.
There are stay limits when it comes to camping on the Manti LaSal National Forest. “You must occupy your campsite on the first day that you stay. After that you can leave camping equipment unattended for up to 72 hours maximum. Now if a Ranger or Forest Service Personnel comes by your campsite and they notice that it’s unattended, they may leave a notice that reminds you of these camping rules. It is not a ticket until it has been seen that your equipment was left unattended for more than 72 hours. After that your camping limit stay is 14 days,” said Stoffregen. At this time, if you would like to remain camping over the 14 day limit you must move your campsite at least 10 miles from the original campsite.
The Forest offers a variety of fun, family-friendly activities, but only when everyone is respectful of the rules in place. These rules help protect the public lands, while ensuring a safe visit for all. For additional information on the Manti- La Sal National Forest, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/mantilasal