The Bitterroot National Forest recently released the draft decision on the forest travel plan. The proposal has already met with opposition from some forest users, but overall the proposal is the result of careful balancing of a wide variety of objectives.
The Bitterroot NF must first protect wildlife, watersheds, and other forest resources to provide a high quality environment for all users, now and for future generations. Our quality of life and our property values here in the Bitterroot Valley depend on this. The plan strives to achieve resource protection while permitting a wide variety of motor uses, largely based on past development.
Highway vehicles have 1482 miles of road open yearlong or seasonally, while ATVs have 2087 miles of roads and trails open yearlong or seasonally, including aver 600 miles where pickup trucks are not allowed. Mountain bikes have over 1200 miles of trails, while horse riders and hikers have about 1300 miles of non-motorized trails. Quiet users can also go on motor routes as well. Snow machines have over 500,000 acres to ride in, including high country in the Bitterroots and the Sapphires.
To get some perspective on the figures above, the forest has done surveys to determine how people recreate on the Bitterroot NF. 66.4% of users hike, 2.6% bicycle, 7.5% ride horses, 6.9 % use motorbikes or ATVs, and 7.6 % snowmobile. Considering these numbers, it does not appear that motor users are being slighted.
Executive Order 11644, signed by a Republican President, directs land management agencies to protect resources and reduce user conflict by restricting use by motor vehicles on public lands where necessary. The Bitterroot NF has done a thorough job of balancing competing uses and protecting resources. No user group got all it wanted. The travel plan provides much for relatively new motor and mechanized users, to the detriment of traditional horse and foot users. However, we are very fortunate that the Bitterroot NF has a large amount of land where traditional users can find relatively quiet surroundings.
Hopefully, thoughtful people will put forest resources ahead of personal interests and support what the proposed plan tries to achieve.
Kirk Thompson
Stevensville