Snowmobile, ATV groups ask members to stay off ski trails at Lake Como

Perry Backus

HAMILTON - Two motorized recreation organizations are asking members to stay away from the new cross-country skiing area along the south shore of Lake Como.

The Bitterroot Ridgerunners Snowmobile Club and the Ravalli County Off Road User Association posted the request on their Web sites and on fliers hung at businesses around the Bitterroot Valley.

"We are asking our members to just stay out of the area altogether," said Dan Thompson, a member of both organizations. "It's not an area particularly good for snowmobiling and there are other places for ATV riders to go."

The 30-mile trail system was being groomed by volunteers for the first time this year with permission from the U.S. Forest Service.

In January, someone on an ATV went around a locked gate and tore up a portion of a new groomed cross-country ski trail that local enthusiasts had dubbed Como Trails.

Forest Service law enforcement officials cited a person in that case, but refused to release a name. The Ravalli Republic filed a Freedom of Information Act request recently seeking the person's name and additional information surrounding the case from the agency.

Thompson said most of the trails that are being groomed for cross-country skiing are already closed to motorized travel through the winter months.

"Still, we know that this kind of thing could happen again," Thompson said. "We think by asking people to just avoid the area entirely is the best strategy to ensure that it doesn't."

The clubs are asking members to not take any motorized vehicles past the turnoff to the boat launch area on the south side of Lake Como during the winter months.

The off-road association has about 450 members. The snowmobile club has 250.

"We don't want to see all the good work of the cross-country ski club be damaged," Thompson said. "It's important that we be responsible users."

The groups urge their members to call the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office if they observe any inappropriate activity in the area.

A lack of snow and warm weather has kept volunteers from successfully re-grooming the trail system.

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