Judge says Gallatin forest needs to revise wilderness travel plan

The Gallatin National Forest must rework its travel plan for a wilderness study area, but the agency's plan for the rest of the forest was upheld in a ruling issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy.

Molloy ruled the forest's motorized use plan for the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn wilderness study area didn't adequately protect the wilderness quality of the area as required by the Montana Wilderness Act of 1977.

Conservation groups claimed the travel plan allowed too much motorized use, while balanced use and snowmobile groups sought more access.

The plan expanded and reconfigured the area snowmobiles may use in the winter, and decreased and reconfigured the area motorcycles and mountain bikes may use in the summer. It also imposed seasonal restrictions and disallowed all-terrain vehicles within the wilderness study area.

"In particular, what (the judge) determined was that while the Forest Service may have struck a balance for competing uses overall in the wilderness study area, they didn't meet the higher standard they have to reach, which is protecting the wilderness quality of it," said Craig Kenworthy, conservation director with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

Kenworthy said he believed the forest could meet the standards.

"We feel like the Forest Service can go back and say, 'Given what we know, let's come up with a plan that more carefully addresses some of these uses and does meet the requirements,' " he said.

Gallatin National Forest spokeswoman Marna Daley said the agency was disappointed with the ruling in the case of the wilderness study area "but we feel very good that the majority of the travel plan decision still stands."

The Gallatin National Forest covers 1.8 million acres, and the wilderness study area includes 155,000 acres, she said.

"We need to determine what this means to the current area management as soon as possible," Daley said. "Does that mean we revert back to however it was being managed before the travel plan decision, which was providing a lot more opportunity for motorized and mechanized use, which we don't believe was the intent" of the decision.

Kerry White, executive board member of Citizens for Balanced Use - a group that advocates keeping federally managed public lands open and accessible - called the decision "devastating."

"A lot of people are going to be really hurt over this one," White said.

He said he expected the new plan would restrict bicycle use and further restrict motorcycle use, while Kenworthy said the judge also took issue with an expanded snowmobile use area.

Paul Turcke, an attorney for the Blueribbon Coalition - which advocates for recreational opportunities on public lands - did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Molloy's ruling notes that Congress has not followed through with the requirements of the Montana Wilderness Act, which set aside nine areas to be considered for wilderness designation by a 1984 deadline. Two of the nine areas have been declared wilderness, but the other parcels remain in limbo.

"Until Congress acts to resolve the issue, the Forest Service will be trapped between its administrative obligation to reasonably balance competing land uses and the statutory requirement that it maintain the 1977 wilderness character of the place," Molloy wrote.

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Source: http://www.helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/article_4d7c3e48-ad81-11de-bb61-001cc4c03286.html