HELENA - Appeals mainly by motorized vehicle users to the Bureau of Land Management's travel plan that covers federal land in the Scratchgravel Hills, the Marysville area, the Spokane Hills, Boulder, Jefferson City and the Upper Big Hole have been dismissed, allowing the agency to move forward with implementing the project.

The BLM announced Wednesday that the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C., earlier this month dismissed the appeals. The appellants had filed petitions to place a "stay" or an immediate hold on the decisions, pending the outcome of the appeals.

"We are excited to be moving forward with our travel plan decisions," said Rick Hotaling, the BLM's Butte based field manager. "Travel planning is a long process incorporating public input while trying to balance multiple uses with the health of the land. We are looking forward to starting the implementation of these travel plan decisions."

The comprehensive land-use plan provides guidance for management of about 307,000 acres of public land and about 661,000 acres of federal mineral estate lands administered by the Butte field office.

As part of the plan, Helena's Scratchgravel Hills will be closed to motorized traffic. The Montana High Divide Trails Group - a coalition of nine open space, biking, hiking and horseback riding groups - was pleased with the move, calling the Scratchgravel Hills an "island of open space and public lands within a rapidly growing Helena valley.

"The Scratchgravels are a natural park, the west valley equivalent of the popular Mount Helena," the group wrote in a press release. "We applaud the BLM area plan decision to allocate the Scatchgravel Hills to a range of quiet nonmotorized recreational uses including horseback riding, hiking, jogging and mountain biking."

In addition, the final plan includes six BLM wilderness study areas and recommends the Humbug Spires along the Continental Divide and the Sleeping Giant north of Helena as Wilderness Study Areas.

The BLM also established four administrative protection areas known as "Areas of Critical Environmental Concern," including 50,431 acres in the Elkhorn Wildlife Management Area.

Hotaling noted that the Butte Field Office will install signs on the open routes in the near future and create information kiosks and parking areas. He added that only open routes will have signs; closed routes will not be designated with signs.

People using motorized vehicles where they're not supposed to will be given warnings initially, Hotaling said, but could be ticketed in the future.

"The plan is in effect right now, but we will be implementing it over time," Hotaling said. "We'll start enforcement while we're implementing it. We don't encourage people to go on roads just because we haven't put a sign up."

Overall, the plan will try to achieve healthy ecosystems while allowing multiple uses and minimize user conflicts and impacts to resources. Generally, it includes closing about 200 miles of roads; previously, more than 600 miles were available for motorized use.

The document also calls for more timber management, particularly in the Scratchgravels, to lessen the danger of wildfire to nearby subdivisions.

Most of the concerns by those appealing the plan focused on the regulatory process associated with site-specific travel planning. Some also voiced concerns that the plan would establish "de facto" wilderness areas.

For more information on the plan, including specific open and closed travel routes, to online to blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/butte_field_office/rmp/rod.html. For more information on implementation of the travel plans, contact Sherri Lionberger 406-533-7671.