Citizens access our National Forests for a wide variety of reasons. My attitude is that it’s all good, no matter what your recreational interests are. The important thing is that you get out in the woods and enjoy the sights, sounds, fresh air, sunshine, wildlife and take a little time to relax. For many of us, time in the backcountry is a time for renewal and an opportunity to evaluate our life priorities. Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy our public lands without regard to how you get around in the Forest. So you can understand why folks who choose to use a motor vehicle to get around in the Forest are troubled by a Bitterroot National Forest Travel Plan that targets motorcycles, mountain bikes, ATVs, snowmobiles and jeeps for extinction.
If you are a hiker, stock user, wood gatherer, hunter, skier or fisherman, you may not share my concern about the Travel Plan in the belief that it probably won’t affect you personally. Not so. As the Travel Plan is implemented, you are in for some startling and troubling discoveries.
The Travel Plan proposes to reduce access to about 19% of the system roads on the Bitterroot National Forest to all motorized traffic, and access to motorized trails will be reduced by about 78% (these numbers include the increase in seasonal closures). These same roads and trails will quickly become impassable to everyone, because without the chainsaws carried by motorcycles, ATVs, mountain bikes and trucks the deadfall will accumulate quickly.
But the real “gotcha” in the Travel Plan is that it will close all non-system roads. These are roads that exist on the Forest but are not considered part of the Agency’s transportation system. There are hundreds of miles of non-system roads. Some of these roads are old logging or fire access roads, and a few are old mine access roads, and some access private in-holdings. The Travel Plan will close them all unless they are on the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM). If you are a wood gatherer, your favorite spots are likely on a non-system road not shown on the MVUM. If you go to that spot this fall to cut wood for your stove, it will be illegal and you could get a $500 fine. If you are a hunter, you probably have used some of these non-system roads for game retrieval with a vehicle. Never again, at least legally, and it is your responsibility to know which roads are on the MVUM.
Prior to the completion of the Travel Plan, the rule was that any road or trail that was not specifically signed or barricaded as closed was legal to travel, provided the width of your vehicle matched the tread width of the road or trail. The Travel Plan reverses this rule and states that any road or trail not specifically designated for travel by a motor vehicle on the MVUM is automatically closed to all motorized travel. No signage or barricades necessary. This seemingly innocuous and minor rule change will prohibit access to many hundreds of miles of roads that previously were available to the visiting public.
If your preferred experience in the Forest is to explore the backcountry with the assistance of an ATV, motorcycle, mountain bike or snowmobile, you are going to have to go elsewhere for your fun. The BNF Travel Plan will manage an additional 200,000 acres of backcountry as defacto wilderness (in addition to the existing 800,000 wilderness acres). These areas contain the most highly valued trails and areas for backcountry recreation and will no longer be available to you.
When you get your $500 ticket for traveling on an illegal non-system road or trail, you probably won’t even realize you are on an illegal road or trail. In order to figure out where you are on the MVUM maps, you have to have an IQ like Einstein and a really good pair of eyeglasses. And there is no map for mountain bikes, so I guess they just have to take their chances. You will most likely spend most of your outdoor time pawing through the 50-page MVUM map to find yourself. Go ahead – I dare ya – get a copy from the Forest Service and try to find some of your favorite spots on the MVUM.
Dan Thompson
Victor
Bill LaCroix says
“Jeremy’s” comment is not a comment at all. It’s a threat of physical violence against government employees. I’ve been a government employee out there by myself in the mountains, as have a large percentage of folks who live in the Bitterroot who also love the outdoors and seek employment in them. Are you threatening me, Jeremy? Here’s my phone number if you’re too chicken to say it in public: 363-1329
Jeremy says
This is bull shit time we the people start cutting government here and don’t let them ruin our land our access and our rights if they keep it up the enforcers are going start disappearing in our woods.
Joe Stapleton says
Nice. That attitude ruins it for anyone who has a decent head on their shoulders. Idiot.
phil abelin says
I’mm having trouble coming up with a legal comment, I’d like to swear and kick somebody where it really hurts, but that has not worked for all the years this has gone on, not that I’ve ever done that! Now I’m old and gray and can’t walk very far any more and I just want to be able to ride my RZR and see the sites, instead I see road closed, what a shame.