Motorcyclists stop trail crew
By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
When a crew of volunteers showed up in the Bridger Mountains Saturday to barricade a motorcycle trail, they found about 20 people on dirt bikes waiting for them.
The work never got started, even though the volunteers had legal permission from the Forest Service to erect a stone barricade.
"We had permission to do something very particular, and they were not going to let us do that," said Alex Phillips, a Montana Wilderness Association staffer and an organizer of the volunteers.
Exactly what happened, and the tone of the meeting, is in dispute. Accounts from four witnesses agreed that there was no shouting or yelling, but two women volunteers said they felt "intimidated" by the large group of trail bike riders.
Joe Polus, one of the motorcyclists, said nobody asked them to move their bikes. The goal, he said, was to keep the trail open and improve it.
The volunteers left before things became confrontational.
"That's probably a good thing," said Jose Castro, Bozeman District Ranger for the Gallatin National Forest.
The trail in dispute leads to the top of Mount Baldy, on the southern end of the Bridger Range, and it's popular with motorcyclists, who say they've used it for many years.
Polus said he first rode the trail in 1985 "and it was well established then."
However, the trail is "user created," and that's an important distinction, because a different set of rules regulate whether that type of trail remains open or closed, Castro said.
This is the second attempt to close it. The Forest Service got the job done last year, with a barricade of logs and debris. But somebody tore that barricade out within three weeks.
Aside from the trail's location, the bike riders have damaged soils and vegetation further up the hill, though different parties disagree about the severity of it. The Forest Service says it's significant The motorcyclists say it can be fixed.
This year, MWA members volunteered to help a Montana Conservation Corps crew put up a new barrier. The Forest Service issued them a specific permit for the work.
The motorcyclists who showed up Saturday had tools and said they were willing to work on repairing the damaged area farther up the mountain.
But nobody has a permit for that work.
"You have to have the permission of the Forest Service" for a project like that, Castro said.
He said he still believes he made the right decision to close the trail and that he wants to implement it.
"My preference is to go in and finish the job we started to do," he said Monday. "In the case of resource damage, I have the authority to close it."
Polus said his group plans to seek formal permission to repair the trail where it is damaged and to keep it open.
Whatever happens this year will be a temporary measure, Castro said.
The Gallatin is now writing a travel plan for the entire forest, spelling out which types of users are allowed to go where.
That process, which will take at least another year, will determine the trail's final fate.
"We've been working with the Forest Service to reopen it and keep it open," Polus said.
Showing up Saturday was meant to grab attention, he said.
"We hope to use the events of the weekend to get a little bit of an audience with the Forest Service," Polus said.
"We realize we're a minority," he said. "But we also realize we have as many rights as anybody else on this issue."
Castro said he hopes to meet with both sides and also plans to meet with Forest Supervisor Becki Heath about the issue.
