KALISPELL - A U.S. Forest Service plan released Monday would add more acres of snowmobiling in more months of the year, stretching snowcat access beyond the limits set in an agreement between snowmobilers and environmentalists.
The plan, which covers the Flathead National Forest, adds snowmobiling lands in the North Fork Flathead River drainage and in the Swan River area - places that were designated non-motorized in the agreement between snowcatters and conservationists.
The preferred plan, which is one of five alternatives developed in a draft environmental impact statement, "moves us one very big step closer to resolving the long-standing debate over the level of snowmobile access to the Flathead National Forest," said forest supervisor Cathy Barbouletos.
Barbouletos, in releasing the document, said she recognized the importance of snowmobile access, as well as the importance of providing places where wildlife are not disturbed by the machines. The plan, she said, demonstrates "there can be a balance between these two issues."
The balance was tilted back in the late 1990s, when members of the Montana Wilderness Association met with forest rangers. The conservationists were concerned that forest officials were not following their own rules with regard to snowmobile access. In areas deemed off-limits to motorized use, for instance, forest officials were giving the green light to groomed snowmobile trails.
The environmentalists wanted some of the off-limits areas kept off-limits, but were willing to negotiate on other areas. They asked snowmobilers to sit down before the matter went to court, hoping to avert the suit.
The snowmobilers refused, however, and in 1999 MWA filed its first suit against the Flathead forest.
Then, when a magistrate issued a recommendation to the judge indicating forest officials should, in fact, follow their own rules, the snowmobilers finally agreed to negotiations.
If the judge had ordered the forest to follow its rules, the snowmobilers would have been shut out of many favorite riding places, including places MWA agreed were good for motorized use.
After a year's work, the two sides reached a consensus that ensured snowmobiling in the most popular riding spots while at the same time ensuring non-motorized quiet in areas important to the conservationists.
When the deal was announced in March 2002, it was praised by both sides as a remarkable middle ground and, perhaps, as a model for future consensus negotiations.
All that began to unravel, however, when local conservative land-use groups, some with no affiliation to snowmobiling, cried foul that too much winter forest was designated non-motorized.
When it came time for forest officials to apply the settlement by incorporating it into the Flathead's formal winter recreation plan, managers decided to make some changes to the agreement.
"This is an open, public process," said Kim Smolt, project team leader for the Flathead forest. "We received lots of comments about the settlement plan, and we are obligated to listen to the rest of the world."
Comments, she said, ran the gamut, with both sides weighing in. The result was forest officials recommended 10,000 additional acres of snowmobiling, and extended the season for a month and a half. No concessions were made to conservationists in the forest's recommendation.
Conservationists said they have not yet reviewed the details of the added 10,000 acres. There are, however, concerns about the extended season, especially as that season applies to endangered species.
Biologists say grizzly bears remain in their dens from about the beginning of December to the end of March. The Flathead forest's existing rules, as they apply to snowmobiling in grizzly country, call for an end of snowcatting by March 15, a couple weeks before the bears emerge.
The proposed plan, however, would extend the season through the end of April.
"March 15 is unacceptable to the snowmobile community," Smolt said. "We haven't been enforcing those dates anyway, and there are still grizzlies out there. It's been happening for 30 years."
But what has not been happening for 30 years, conservationists said, is the large numbers of big snowmobiles cruising deep into the backcountry.
According to Smolt, the proposal protects 92 percent of grizzly denning habitat, and leaves ample room for both bears and snowmobiles.
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at mjamison@missoulian.com
If you're interested
To comment on the Flathead National Forest snowmobile use plan, write to 1935 Third Ave. E., Kalispell, MT 59901, prior to Aug. 4, or log on to the Internet at www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead, under the NEPA Projects heading.
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