The district ranger is the local area manager and you need to do what you can to get him on your side. He does report to the Forest Supervisor that manages several ranger districts. That is another person that you need to include in your communications and planning. Don't let the district ranger be the one to bottle neck your plans. He has very limited ability to make decisions without consulting his Forest Supervisor and that may be what he is doing now. The Forest Supervisor reports to the regional office which I believe would be in Denver for your area. Don't let some power trip hungry ranger make the decision that others up the ladder should be making in the final decision process.
I am in a similar situation as you by bordering the forest service. Thankfully, I have a district ranger that I can communicate with and who understands his best friends and worst enemy can be a neighbor. He will listen to our concerns, may not always agree, but he will try to look at our position and take that into his decision making process. He has taken the time to communicate, educate us to FS planning, and introduce us to the people he is responsible for and also to the supervisors he reports to. He takes his job as still being responsible to the citizens but also has a goal to protect resources. We do not always agree but we can talk with him and he will listen. I do hope he is appointed as the Forest Supervisor in the future for this area. We will miss him when he is gone and I am sure the next one will not make themselves as accessible and reasonable to the people as he has done for the people.
I worked with him to secure and utilize a 2 acre winter parking area on FS property for the people using this area. In the past we fought with the FS over parking in this area. They would build a dirt berm across the entrance of what we used for winter parking each year. Then, late in the fall just prior to winter someone and I have no idea who would take the berm out after the FS had put their heavy construction equipment away for the winter. In the summer they would come back in and block our parking area with another large dirt berm. When Mark was appointed district ranger I met with him to discuss this problem. He determined it was mostly a power trip by one of his people in his district office over the years. He put his foot down and issued me in writing a permit to utilize the area from 11-15 to 4-15 each year or as conditions permit for winter parking. As users we do have responsibilities to not create resource damage. I find this to be a problem as a few people do not care about what kind of mess or damage they do and then we are all blamed for their actions. I pick up garbage, handle opening and closing the area along with communicating to the people that use it they have user responsibilities. Some of the attitudes of the users are really bad when it comes to trying to abide by the rules as they assume they can do whatever they want without repercussions.
So backcountry, get to know the people you are trying to work with. Someone in the FS can help you get what you need. You need to find that one person who can make it happen for you. Good luck, as I know what you are fighting a tough one but do not alienate all of them against you or you will never be able to get your project fully reviewed or completed.
.....Bill