OHVS: Lawsuit seeks to halt motorized use in Mont.'s Pryor Mountains

Environmentalists and backcountry horse riders filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., seeking to stop motorized vehicle use in large portions of southern Montana's Pryor Mountains.

The groups, acting jointly as the Pryors Coalition, are challenging the Forest Service's 2008 travel plan for the mountain range, which designated about 124 miles of roads and trails for motorized use. Prior to the travel plan, motorized vehicle use had largely been unrestricted in the area.

The Pryors Coalition -- which includes the Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society, Wildlands CPR and Beartooth Backcountry Horsemen -- wants as much as half of the 125-square-mile mountain range set aside exclusively for hikers, horseback riding and mountain bikers. Under the current travel plan, less than 1.5 miles are set aside for such "quiet recreation."

"In the far past, it didn't make that much difference because there wasn't that much traffic," said Dick Walton, 67, one of the plaintiffs, but he said more restrictions on motorized use are needed now that more people are visiting the area.

Forest Service spokeswoman Marna Daley said the travel plan tried to balance the needs of different users, while recognizing the area's historical use by off-road vehicle riders.

"Part of that is the landscape, the more open landscape up there," she said. "And given the nature of the landscape, the more rocky, solid soils that occur, you can provide motorized use without some of the environmental concerns you might have in other areas"

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Source: Land Letter

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