Environmental groups have put the squeeze on off-road
vehicle enthusiasts in eastern Idaho’s Targhee National Forest. On
Jan. 15, the Forest Service abandoned its policy of allowing
snowmobiles, motorbikes or cars access to every part of the forest,
on or off road.
The decision is a part of the
agency’s Targhee Travel Plan, which includes closing 689 miles of
roads and trails to preserve grizzly bear and elk habitat and
control soil erosion. The plan still leaves over 2,000 miles of
roads and 773 miles of trails open to motor
vehicles.
The Travel Plan’s objective, forest
supervisor Jerry Reese says, is to balance the interests of
conservation and vehicle users, but closing roads and trails is
always controversial. Debate over the plan during last fall’s
administrative review brought in 1,200 public appeals, 80 percent
of which came from angry ORV enthusiasts. “We don’t need any more
mass closures of roads,” says Jim Gerber, spokesman for the
Citizens for a User-Friendly Forest.
Still, the
agency wants to close 400 more miles of road and 250 miles of
trails, according to Reese. But the agency won’t make a decision on
further closures until the end of the year.
“This
is the beginning of a really ugly battle over winter use in
Yellowstone and surrounding national forests,” says Marv Hoyt of
the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He says the coalition is not
flatly opposed to off-road vehicles on public lands. “We just want
some balance. But they want it all.”
*Jason
Lenderman
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Motorheads lose one.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
