Wilderness plan
to honor 2000
winter-use pact
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
A 2000 agreement that designated specific
parts of the northern Wood River Valley for motorized and non-motorized uses in
winter would likely be kept intact as part of any proposed legislation by Rep.
Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, to establish a new wilderness area in the Boulder and
White Cloud Mountains.
"We will honor the snowmobile agreement
that was made," said Lindsay Slater, Simpson’s chief of staff, in addressing
whether winter uses in the popular recreation area would be impacted by a new
federal wilderness designation.
Slater said existing boundaries for winter
motorized and nonmotorized uses—which were approved by the U.S. Forest Service
in the fall of 2000—would be integrated into the wilderness plan to ensure that
existing snowmobile use areas are not reduced.
The 2000 pact between snowmobilers and
skiers established large areas reserved for each group. Both the motorized and
nonmotorized areas include large portions of the Boulder Mountains, north of
Ketchum.
The net result of the plan to honor the
agreement, Slater said, is that portions of the Boulder Mountains near Galena
Summit would be part of a new wilderness area, while the area encompassing
Silver Creek, Easley Creek and Boulder Creek would be excluded.