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Yeppers, that ATV lobby sure is powerful... and they represent the 2%......
Most want travel restrictions in Rocky Mountain Front
Associated Press
GREAT FALLS – The majority of people commenting on the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed travel changes for the Rocky Mountain Front prefer a plan favoring traditional uses, such as hiking and horseback riding, an environmental coalition says.
More than 98 percent of the 7,600 comments submitted to the Forest Service about proposed changes were against additional off-road vehicle use of the region, the group said.
The Front includes the mountains and foothills east of the Continental Divide from Glacier National Park to Rogers Pass, east of Lincoln.
The Coalition for the Protection of the Rocky Mountain Front, a group of 12 environmental and recreational groups, said much of the opposition came from outside Montana. Of the Montanans commenting, 92 percent opposed off-road vehicle use, as did 83 percent of respondents living along the Front.
Last year, the Lewis and Clark National Forest developed a travel plan including permitting of off-road travel by dirt bikes, off-road vehicles and snowmobiles in two-thirds of the Front.
“The Rocky Mountain Front is in the top 1 percent of wildlife habitat and wildlands in the continental United States,” said Roy Jacobs, 56, a taxidermist and lifelong Choteau resident. “That’s largely because the Front remains free of motorized travel. I would hate to see it turned into a motocross track. ORVs can be as devastating as oil and gas development.”
Russ Ehnes, vice president of the Great Falls Trailbike Riders Association, said motorized vehicle users should have a right to use the Front for recreation even though they didn’t “solicit and generate as many comments.”
“We made one comment on behalf of our club, but it represented more than 100 families who are currently members,” he said.
“The riders I know from Great Falls, Cut Bank and all over the state really value the Rocky Mountain Front for recreating” and are equally interested in protecting it, Ehnes said.
Among other things, the environmental coalition said opening the region to more off-road travel would make it easier for oil and gas development to occur.
The Forest Service noted the existing travel plan already allows motorized travel in many parts of the Front.
The Montana Wilderness Association and other coalition members believe the existing plan is illegal.
“In the past, ORV use was not restricted and didn’t need to be,” said coalition member Kendall Flint of East Glacier Park. “But in the last decade, ORV sales have tripled and the vehicles now are powerful enough to go up places they never could before.”
Flint said there already is considerably more ORV use in the Badger-Two Medicine area, in the northern portion of the Front.
Dick Schweke, Forest Service team leader for the transportation plan, said the number of comments – 7,600 – was the most he’s ever seen on a ranger district plan.
Kate Sako of East Glacier Park, who coordinated the coalition’s counting effort, said many of the submitted form letters included personalized comments. But even if the form letters were not counted, 92 percent of the public supported traditional rather than motorized uses on the Front, she said.
Most want travel restrictions in Rocky Mountain Front
Associated Press
GREAT FALLS – The majority of people commenting on the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed travel changes for the Rocky Mountain Front prefer a plan favoring traditional uses, such as hiking and horseback riding, an environmental coalition says.
More than 98 percent of the 7,600 comments submitted to the Forest Service about proposed changes were against additional off-road vehicle use of the region, the group said.
The Front includes the mountains and foothills east of the Continental Divide from Glacier National Park to Rogers Pass, east of Lincoln.
The Coalition for the Protection of the Rocky Mountain Front, a group of 12 environmental and recreational groups, said much of the opposition came from outside Montana. Of the Montanans commenting, 92 percent opposed off-road vehicle use, as did 83 percent of respondents living along the Front.
Last year, the Lewis and Clark National Forest developed a travel plan including permitting of off-road travel by dirt bikes, off-road vehicles and snowmobiles in two-thirds of the Front.
“The Rocky Mountain Front is in the top 1 percent of wildlife habitat and wildlands in the continental United States,” said Roy Jacobs, 56, a taxidermist and lifelong Choteau resident. “That’s largely because the Front remains free of motorized travel. I would hate to see it turned into a motocross track. ORVs can be as devastating as oil and gas development.”
Russ Ehnes, vice president of the Great Falls Trailbike Riders Association, said motorized vehicle users should have a right to use the Front for recreation even though they didn’t “solicit and generate as many comments.”
“We made one comment on behalf of our club, but it represented more than 100 families who are currently members,” he said.
“The riders I know from Great Falls, Cut Bank and all over the state really value the Rocky Mountain Front for recreating” and are equally interested in protecting it, Ehnes said.
Among other things, the environmental coalition said opening the region to more off-road travel would make it easier for oil and gas development to occur.
The Forest Service noted the existing travel plan already allows motorized travel in many parts of the Front.
The Montana Wilderness Association and other coalition members believe the existing plan is illegal.
“In the past, ORV use was not restricted and didn’t need to be,” said coalition member Kendall Flint of East Glacier Park. “But in the last decade, ORV sales have tripled and the vehicles now are powerful enough to go up places they never could before.”
Flint said there already is considerably more ORV use in the Badger-Two Medicine area, in the northern portion of the Front.
Dick Schweke, Forest Service team leader for the transportation plan, said the number of comments – 7,600 – was the most he’s ever seen on a ranger district plan.
Kate Sako of East Glacier Park, who coordinated the coalition’s counting effort, said many of the submitted form letters included personalized comments. But even if the form letters were not counted, 92 percent of the public supported traditional rather than motorized uses on the Front, she said.
