Second in a two-part series exploring a controversial set of travel plan revisions for the Sawtooth National Forest's three ranger districts, which Idaho conservationists appealed.
Sawtooth National Forest officials acknowledge they may have a hard time enforcing new travel restrictions related to motorized backcountry use of roads and trails on the forest's Ketchum, Fairfield and Minidoka ranger districts.
"Historically it has been an issue," Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson said Tuesday.
At issue are a series of revisions to the Sawtooth travel plan—developed to satisfy a 2005 federal rule released by then-U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth requiring all national forests across the nation to eliminate cross-country motorized travel—that were released by the forest in February. The changes, which seek to stop the creation of what forest officials dub "user-created" routes, are scheduled to go into effect this coming Friday, June 13.
Two Idaho conservation groups—the Idaho Conservation League (ICL) and the Idaho chapter of The Wilderness Society—filed a joint appeal of the travel plan revisions in April. The groups alleged forest officials provided inadequate opportunities for public involvement, left open too many user-created routes and, in some cases, gave motorized users too much say on drafting the new rules.
Last week, Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer denied the groups' appeal. Neither group has indicated whether they'll pursue further action against the new rules, which could include litigation.
Should conservationists decide not to challenge the rules, one of the final outcomes of the revisions will be the publishing of a new travel map showing which roads and trails are open for motorized uses. Nelson said he hopes to have the map available to the public in time for the July 4 holiday.
"It will show all the motorized routes that are designated," he said.
Roads or trails not designated during the process will be closed to all motorized use, Nelson said. And the district will allow nature to reclaim them, he added.
Across the approximately 350,000-acre Ketchum Ranger District, the ruggedness of the terrain has helped limit the number of user-created routes that showed up in areas open to off-trail travel, Nelson said. Also benefiting the local district is the level of cooperation local motorized and non-motorized trail users have shown, he said. District managers have also benefited from the work members of local motorized and non-motorized trails advocacy group Big Wood Backcountry Trails have done to keep peace on the trails, he said.
"We have really good cooperation," he said.
Prior to the revisions, Sawtooth rules allowed unrestricted off-trail travel by motorized recreationists on portions of each of the ranger districts. Certain areas on the Sawtooth forest and other national forest areas around the country—including the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area to the north—already prohibited off-trail motorized travel before Bosworth's directive.
On the Sawtooth, the result of previous unrestricted motorized use shows up in creek bottoms and on hillsides and ridgelines where hundreds of miles of user-created routes ply the landscape. And nowhere is the issue more apparent then on the Minidoka district, forest documents show. The district falls on both sides of the Idaho-Utah line and is a favorite playground for motorized recreationists hailing from the nearby communities of Twin Falls and Jerome.
In his Feb. 22 decision announcing the release of a preferred alternative for managing travel on the Minidoka, district ranger Scott Nannenga chose to add 94 miles of non-system user-created routes to the district's list of routes open to motorized use. This brings the total length of the district's system of motorized routes to 236 miles, Nannenga said.
He said it would eliminate cross-country travel by motorized vehicles on 532,818 acres of the Minidoka. The preferred plan also bars motorized travel on a massive 626-mile network of non-system, user-created routes lacing the district.
By comparison, Nelson's proposal will add just 18 miles of user-created routes to the district's existing 121 miles of roads and trails located in the portion of the district south of Warm Springs Creek previously open to off-trail motorized travel. The plan eliminates motorized use on a smaller 64-mile network of user-created routes.
On two of the user-created routes not designated for use on the Ketchum district, work will be completed this summer to physically bar motorized users from heading up their lengths, Nelson said. Elsewhere, forest officials will rely on newly placed signage and the good will of users to keep motorized use off of closed routes, he said.
Not all national forest areas around the country appear to be so lucky as the Ketchum district. In many of these areas, different realities like gentler terrain and a greater lack of enforcement make the job of keeping motorized recreationists on designated routes a challenge.
The daunting issues facing federal public land managers haven't escaped the notice of politicians in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, June 5, members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led by committee chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., heard testimony from a number of individuals with knowledge on the complex issue.
Speaking at the outset of the two-hour discussion, Bingaman noted that significant advances in the "power, range and capabilities" of off-road motorized vehicles has contributed to a rise in their use.
"It appears questionable to me whether the BLM or the Forest Service have been able to keep up with this challenge," he said.
On the contiguous Ketchum and Fairfield ranger districts—which together cover about 765,000 acres—just one full-time federal law enforcement officer is assigned for various law enforcement duties, Nelson said. There will be three additional forest protection officers on the Ketchum district this summer, he said.
"They have the ability to write citations," Nelson said.
Down on the Minidoka, some of the most contentious disagreements over the management of Sawtooth National Forest involve recreation groups with different needs, such as mountain bikers, equestrians, hikers and dirt bikers, Nannenga said in his Feb. 22 decision.
"My discussions with different user groups have made apparent the passionate feelings each has for the values around motorized and non-motorized recreation," he said. According to the groups who's appeal of the new rules Kollmeyer denied, the forest could have done more to solicit feedback from the public during the several-year process to designate travel routes open for motorized and non-motorized uses.
Instead, the groups allege Sawtooth officials simply asked participants involved in the process which trails they felt should remain open to motorized recreational use and didn't consider the different needs various recreational users have when recreating in the backcountry.
For example, asking which trails are suitable and should remain open for motorized use isn't an easy answer for non-motorized users like hikers to answer, said Brad Smith, ICL Conservation Associate.
"How do you respond to that?" he asked.
Smith said officials with north-central Idaho's Clearwater National Forest—which is mid-way through the same process Sawtooth officials just wrapped up—have come up with a more inclusive process that involves all users, motorized and non-motorized alike. He said that from the outset, Clearwater officials chose to place off-limits to all motorized use several roadless areas on the forest the forest has recommended for wilderness designation.
"They looked at all the recreational uses and said the forest is big enough to provide opportunities for everybody," he said.
Sawtooth officials should have set aside areas on the forest like the Pioneer Mountains where they've recommended wilderness designation as motorized-free zones, Smith said.
"It makes the most sense to be there," he said.
And while the Sawtooth has set aside some routes as non-motorized, they haven't designated enough, Smith said. He pointed to a study released by the Sawtooth officials in 2006 that indicates of all respondents questioned, 15.9 percent listed hiking or walking as their primary activity. The study indicates just 0.7 percent of respondents said their primary activity was motorized trail activities. This is despite the fact that according to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, 132,000 off-road recreational vehicles were registered in the state in 2007 compared to 81,000 in 2003.
The Sawtooth figures prove that setting aside more routes where motorized noise can't be heard would be a prudent move, Smith said.
"We're looking for chunks of land where you can find quiet while acknowledging at the same time that there are places that are appropriate for motorized use."
On the other side of the coin, motorized user groups represent a different perspective.
During last week's hearing before the Senate committee, the Executive Director of Pocatello-based Blue Ribbon Coalition, Greg Mumm, predicted that if control points like trailheads are designated and motorized users are given enjoyable routes to ride, violations will drop.
"The officers know where, know how, know when to patrol. You need to design those systems around compliance."
Two four-wheel all-terrain vehicles sit idle at a trailhead. Beginning Friday, June 13, all of the Sawtooth National Forest, including the valley’s 350,000-acre Ketchum Ranger District, will no longer allow off-trail motorized travel by recreationists anywhere on the 2.1-million-acre forest. Photo by Mountain Express
