Travel plan meeting draws a crowd
By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
Jose Castro was surrounded. A half-dozen people who enjoy motorized travel in the Gallatin National Forest were peppering the Bozeman district ranger with tough questions.
Castro held his own and eventually the questions petered out.
A few minutes later, a second group formed itself around him Thursday evening. This group had some tough questions of its own. Castro hung tough through that one, too.
The occasion, which drew well over 200 people to a ballroom in the Bozeman Holiday Inn, was an open house to answer questions and take public comment on the Gallatin's proposed travel plan, a document that, when complete, will spell out which kinds of travel will be allowed and where.
Two years in the making, the plan is spelled out in a six-inch-thick stack of documents and dozens of oversize, highly detailed maps.
It's complicated, but the U.S. Forest Service is holding the open houses in an attempt to explain things, and judging by the crowds, people want to get involved.
A similar meeting in Livingston Wednesday attracted about 125 people.
Although the travel planning process has been ongoing for more than two years, the final public comment period ends early in May.
After that, Forest Supervisor Becki Heath and the forest's five district rangers will iron out a final decision. It will spell out where all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, horses and bicycles can go. No restrictions are planned for hikers or cross-country skiers.
Heath said that once the most controversial areas are pinpointed, she plans to inspect them on foot, on horseback or on an ATV.
At this point, the Forest Service is proposing an alternative that would reduce the miles of ATV trails from 281 miles to 166 miles.
It would reduce motorcycle trails from 457 miles to 238 miles. (Some of those trails are open to both types of machines.)
Bicyclists would also see some cutbacks, particularly in the Hyalite Creek area.
The non-wilderness portion of the forest that is closed to snowmobiles would grow from 65 percent to 84 percent.
Horse and pack animal use would be banned on about 34,000 of steep alpine country on the Absaroka Beartooth Plateau, a couple other trails popular with hikers, and on some routes during the wet spring season.
Both motorized and non-motorized groups have been activating their membership, urging them to comment on the proposal.
Both sides showed up in force at Thursday's meeting.
At one point, the crowd around Castro included members of each group, and they started talking to each other, swapping ideas about specific areas.
