Bitterroot Comment Deadline 11/9/09

The Bitterroot National Forest is currently taking comments on the proposed Bitterroot Travel Management Plan. This TMP could close many trails currrently open to mountain bikes and will determine future mountain bike opportunities in the forest. 

Please take the time to write and email a personal pro-bicycle, pro-conservation comment to the Forest Service. Yes it is a pain in the ass but spending 15 minutes of YOUR time is the most pro-acitve contribution you can make to the future of mountain bicycle access to public lands.  Find more information on the BNF Travel Plan here.
 
The following are talking points to help in your letter writing effort. Every letter counts. Make your voice heard - THANKS!



It’s difficult to explain all the simultaneous challenges in Montana right now.  The BIG PICTURE is massive and sadly beyond the scope of this page but here is one take away concept and why YOU NEED TO COMMENT ON THE BITTERROOT TMP:

The Forest Service Region One based out of Missoula has a unwritten ‘philosophy’ on how to manage Recommended Wilderness Areas (RWA); and that is to manage it as Wilderness that bans bicycles whether it will ever become Congressionally designated Wilderness or not.  There are nearly 50 RWAs in Region 1 that translates into roughly 1,200 miles of singletrack that are in line to be closed as each forest goes through their travel and forest planning process.  These include trails that bicyclists have ridden, shared and cherished for decades.  The Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest just completed their Forest Plan where MMBA and IMBA asked for the concession of 32.5 miles out of the 360 to be closed to the blanket RWA bicycle ban.  The final outcome was that we were not given one foot of the trails we asked for - so the precedent has been set and the machine is in motion and won’t stop until we’re booted off all of the trails in the RWAs UNLESS WE MAKE A SHITLOAD OF NOISE RIGHT NOW.  We can’t let another forest close us out uncontested and without a fight.

We are not asking for access to all trails everywhere but do want to be considered separately from motorized, foot and equestrian and to be managed more like other quiet, non-motorized users. See Memorandum of Understanding. We want to have a trail-by-trail dialogue on important trails rather that just a blanket ban.  Unfortunately the structure of these comment periods have already determined our fate to a certain extent but we need to let the Forest Service know that this is an unsatisfactory way to manage bicycles on our public lands. 

Writing Tips: We recommend composing your letter in a Word Document and then copy and paste it into your email program.  Read through the following talking points and piece together a PERSONAL letter using the suggestions that apply or appeal to you.  If you are not familar with the specific trails, please still comment by relaying how you travel to ride on National Forest lands, your observations of mountain bicycle impacts on other users, wildlife and the trails and anything else you want to share.  IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE JUST COPY AND PASTE #1 AND SEND IT.  The bicycle community deserves a chance to provide solutions to the Forest Service that support permanent protection for these landscapes that still allow continued bicycle access through the use of corridors, boundary adjustments and companion designations like a National Conservation Area. We can share for the good of all.

* Please note - this comment process is not the place to vent or whine - provide respectful, insightful and passionate reasons as to why bicycles belong in the backcountry.

TALKING POINTS!   Oh yeah,  we have the Bitterroot trails on a Google Map - its a work in progress...

1. Until a comprehensive and adequate review of bicycle management is performed across the entire Bitterroot Forest, we request that the mountain bike restrictions be removed from the travel plan's RWAs, and tabled for a separate evaluation.  Bicycles should continue to be managed like hikers and equestrians. Use the Memorandum of Understanding between IMBA and USFS as a guideline.
   

The Details:

• Bicyclists are conservation minded and want permanent protection for our wild landscapes.  We can support new socially repsonsible Wilderness when we are at the table to negotiate continued quiet bicycle access to important trails where we already are an established use.

• Request that trails in the Bluejoint and Selway Bitterroot additions Recommended Wilderness Areas remain open to mountain biking.

•  Mountain biking does not degrade "wilderness character".

• A quiet use - much less impact on other quiet users.

• Physical impact on trails is comparable to that of a hiker, and is less than motorized and horses.

• Much of the recommended wilderness area in the BNF receives a very low level of use. The rare encounter with other users is typically positive. (relate personal experience as evidence (when riding the trails in the Bluejoint, I typically have not encountered any other users)).

•  The travel plan DEIS does not provide any evidence that user conflicts between mountain bikers and other users is a significant factor in the Bitterroot National Forest. A study is referenced, in which it was determined that 32% of hikers in the Salt Lake City area felt that bikers created conflicts and affected there experience. However, given the much higher population density in the Salt Lake area, this study has very little relevance for the Bitterroot NF. It is typical in the BNF to ride many miles of trail without encountering other users.

•  The impact of mountain biking is much less than motorized, and should be addressed separately.

•  Physical impact on trails is much less than for motorized and equestrian uses, and is comparable to that of a hiker.

•  The Travel Management Plan Draft EIS is misleading with regard to impact on mountain biking trail access:

1.  In the Abstract and in Chapter 1, Purpose and Need, there is no mention of mountain biking (nor of mechanized use), leading the reader to believe that the scope of the document is limited to designating trails/areas that are open to motorized use.
2. The maps do not explicitly indicate trails (or areas) that are open or closed to mountain biking.
3. In the legends of the maps, the key for Recommended Wilderness Area (1987 Forest Plan) is listed under the heading of Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest Routes (separate from keys for other land use designations). This category is therefore obscured and has led to confusion regarding impacts of the Travel Plan to mountain biking.

• Mountain biking is already an established use on trails in the Bluejoint RWA and on specific trails in the recommended additions to the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Area (specifically Blodget and Bear Creek Overlook)

• Relate personal experiences in riding these trails.

• Specify specific trails that you would like to remain open:

                                  o Blue Joint - trail 614
                                  o Jack the Ripper - trail 137
                                  o Castle Rock - trail 627
                                  o Sheephead Creek - trail 142
                                  o Blodget - trail 19
                                  o Bear Creek Overlook - trail 126

•  Mountain bikers can help to provide good stewardship over the trails. Rather than ban mountain bikers from trails, the forest service should work with mountain bikers in projects to maintain trails. Trails can be effectively cleared of deadfall by a group of mountain bikers with handsaws.

•  Most mountain bikers would like to see remaining roadless areas protected from future development, and wilderness character of these areas maintained. The Forest Service should be working to identify solutions to achieve this, which do not prohibit the use of bicycles.  The Forest Service needs to recognize that most mountain bikers are conservationists

• The Forest Service needs to consider alternative designations of National Recreation Area, and National Protection Area, as a means of providing protection of the wilderness character, while accommodating low-impact compatible uses, such as mountain biking.
  

Send comments:

Email:  Send your email to: comments-northern-bitterroot@fs.fed.us    Type "Travel Planning Project - Comments" in the subject line.

Regular Mail: Forest Supervisor's Office, 1801 N. 1st, Hamilton, MT 59840, Attention: Travel Planning Project

Fax: 406-363-7159