A controversial travel and recreation plan guiding future motorized and non-motorized activity on U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands in the southern Wood River Valley was unanimously approved by the Blaine County Commission on Tuesday.
"Well, that was an anticlimactic end," Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman said after the vote.
A full two years in the making, the far-reaching plan now goes to the BLM for an in-depth environmental assessment. The BLM will have the final say on the plan once the assessment is complete.
As part of an assistance agreement it signed several years ago with the BLM, the county agreed to develop the draft travel plan to manage approximately 160,000 acres of rural land located on both sides of the valley.
The public will have the opportunity to comment on the plan as it progresses through the BLM's environmental assessment.
Titled the "Blaine County Cooperative Conservation Recreation and Travel Plan," the draft plan spells out how the land will be managed in the years to come. The 57-page document includes separate winter and summer recreation maps.
Both the document and the maps have undergone significant revisions throughout the lengthy planning process.
The county held four public meetings on the draft plan. At times, the meetings turned raucous, with the interests of motorized and non-motorized recreationists seemingly at odds.
The plan sets out 14 recreation management designations, two related to winter use and 12 to summer use. During the winter, the county has proposed that large areas be closed off to all public use to protect wintering wildlife, though the size of those areas was reduced considerably in recent months as the meetings progressed.
The winter closure area has arguably been the most controversial issue during the entire planning process.
In late January, the commissioners agreed to recommend that the BLM implement a "hard closure" for select wintering areas on the east side of the Wood River Valley, though they decided to leave officials with the federal agency in charge of setting the dates.
In a letter to the BLM they approved as part of a package on Tuesday, the commissioners said the winter portion of the plan represents "a fair balance of use for motorized, non-motorized use and protection of wintering wildlife."
In the letter, the commissioners go on to say that the BLM should work with Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service to develop a consistent approach, if possible, for winter recreation maps and dates for winter closures.
The commissioners requested that the BLM's designated, groomed snowmobile trails be included on public recreation maps and be considered winter motorized travel corridors. The trails would remain open as travel corridors through the winter closure areas.
Regarding ungroomed travel corridors that pass through Indian Creek and Slaughterhouse Canyon, the commissioners recommended they remain undeveloped, as they are currently managed.
"These areas are wintering wildlife habitat, and therefore, may be subject to winter closure, independently of the other designated closure areas, for all use based upon the condition of wildlife, snow depth and temperature," the commissioners stated in their letter.
The commissioners also addressed one of the biggest challenges to fully implementing the plan: enforcement.
"Since effective management takes resources, the board encourages the BLM to work collaboratively with community groups, Idaho Parks and Recreation and others to develop grants and use volunteers as human capital," they stated.
Groomed snowmobile routes designated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on federal lands in the southern Wood River Valley would remain open throughout the winter under a draft travel plan the Blaine County Commission approved on Tuesday. The BLM will have the final say on the plan once an environmental assessment is complete.
Photo by David N. Seelig
