Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Montana Wilderness Association
Sierra Club
Predator Project
The Wilderness Society
Responsible Limits Can Still Save the Backcountry from Motorized Ruin!
But only if You Seize this Opportunity.
Finally, common-sense limits on the explosion of off-road vehicle (ORV) use on our public lands!What was your reaction when the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management suggested there might be a need to rein in rampant ORV use across 26 million acres in Montana and the Dakotas?
Hard to believe?
It was our first take.
But now the agencies are taking their proposal to the public and the reality is this: You need to speak up. All of us do. Otherwise, a real plan to set limits on ORVs will become the opposite a cave-in to pressure from the snowmobile and ORV manufacturers.
Without your participation, the plan could quickly turn into a failure to solve one of the biggest problems facing our public lands the mass motorization of wild, beautiful places. You own these places. This choice should be yours: Do you want your public lands managed for a small minority with a disproportionate impact--or for water quality, fish, wildlife, and traditional forms of recreation?
Please attend a public “scoping” meeting and help call for a balance between ORVs and other uses on your public lands!
Background
Sales of off-road vehicles in the United States more than doubled in recent years, mushrooming from 150,000 in 1991 to over 343,000 in 1997. And the escalating impact of ORVs goes far beyond sheer numbers. Advances in technology have greatly increased the ability of riders, even those with very little experience or skill, to invade the most remote corners of our wild lands.Less than two percent of Montanans using trails use ORVs. Yet nearly all public land managed by the BLM and Forest Service that is not classified as wilderness is open to motorized use! For example, only one percent of public land managed by the BLM is off limits to ORVs in Montana and the Dakotas.
ORVs disrupt wildlife and their habitat, spread noxious weeds, erode stream banks and create conflicts between groups of people trying to enjoy their public land. Prior to 1990, the Forest Service banned four-wheel ORVs from national forest trails by adopting a 40-inch limit on the width of motorized vehicles. But under pressure from ORV manufacturers that began developing machines nearly as wide as Volkswagon bugs, the Forest Service changed its rule in 1990, effectively dropping its ban on ORVs. The agency made this far-reaching decision without conducting appropriate research and without involving the public.
Today, ORVs travel throughout Montana’s wild, backcountry areas. They transform favorite hiking and “pack and saddle” trails into wide, muddy, and eroding motorized routes. Virtually everywhere, the effects of these machines have not been analyzed as federal environmental laws require.
Joint Agency Plan Falls Short: The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management now propose to develop a plan for managing ORV use.
Theoretically, this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will spell out how the agencies will manage ORV use.
The plan is designed to blunt growing criticism from Montana ranchers, hunters, outfitters and conservationists who have watched land managers fail, almost completely, to protect public lands from the impacts of ORVs.
Unfortunately, it appears that this document may offer far less protection than our public lands need. The plan actually legitimizes all currently existing motorized trails, whether they were legally created or not. It would actually greatly increase the number of legal trails available to ORVs. Even worse, the plan delays significant decisions on where ORV access is appropriate by 10 to 15 years!
Due to its narrow scope, the proposal stifles meaningful reform and ignores existing law and policy that should be governing ORV use on federal public lands. The study also completely ignores the impacts of snowmobiles, and avoids any site-specific changes.
If you care about Montana’s backcountry, please take this crucial opportunity to call for meaningful change in ORV use of your public lands.
The agencies are holding public meetings which are pivotal because they determine what issues the agencies will study or ignore. Please attend a meeting closest you!
A Meaningful Solution
• Public land managers already have clear legal authority to limit ORV travel, and this must be reaffirmed. Any analysis should focus on ORV’s ecological impact.
• The BLM and Forest Service should immediately ban ORV access from trails on public lands. The ban should exempt those places where the agencies have conducted appropriate studies that determined ORV use is not damaging land, water quality, fish, wildlife, and the recreational experience of other visitors. On these lands, appropriate levels of ORV use should be considered.
• This analysis should include snowmobiles.
• All illegal user-created trails and roads should be closed and restored. Please Attend One of these Public Meetings! Tell the agencies you want ORV use controlled on your public lands, except in those places where studies have proven it is not damaging your resources. If you cannot attend a meeting, please submit written comments to:
OHV Plan Amendment
Lewiston Field Office
P.O. Box 1160 Lewistown, MT 59457Comments are due by March 31!
For More information, call: Betsy Buffington, 582-1281 Shawn Regnerus, 587-3389 Bob Ekey, 586-1600 Tim Stevens, 586-1593 Don Mazzola, 582-8600
Open houses scheduled throughout Montana
2/15 Townsend -- Library, 5-8 p.m.
2/16 Lewistown -- BLM Office, Airport Road, 3-7 p.m.
2/16 Miles City -- BLM Conference Room, 111 Garryowen Road, 3-6 p.m.
2/17 Red Lodge --Forest Service Ranger Station, South of Red Lodge, 1-6 p.m.
2/17 Colstrip -- Bicentennial Library, 3-6 p.m.
2/17 Harlowton -- Forest Service Office, 809 2nd St., NW, 2-7 p.m.
2/17 Choteau --Forest Service Office, 1102 Main Ave., NW, 2-6 p.m.
2/18 Billings -- Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 2300 Lake Elmo Dr., 1-6 p.m.
2/18 Butte -- BLM Office, 106 N. Parkmont, 3-8 p.m.
2/18 Browning -- Blackfeet Tribal Office Conference Room, 3:30 - 7:30 p.m.
2/19 Helena -- Forest Service Office, 2880 Skyway Dr., 2-7 p.m.
2/22 Glendive -- Carney Conference Room #2, Glendive Medical Center, 3-6 p.m.
2/22 Great Falls -- BLM Office, 1101 15th Street North, 2-7 p.m.
2/22 Kalispell -- Cavanaugh's Outlaw Inn, 1701 Highway 93 South, 4-8 p.m.
2/23 Broadus -- Montana Bar and Cafe Meeting Room, 111 E. Wilson, 2-5 p.m.
2/23 Havre -- BLM Office, 1704 2nd Street West, 3-7 p.m.
2/24 Ekalaka -- Courthouse, 2-6 p.m.
2/24 Shelby -- Marias River Electric COOP, 910 Roosevelt Highway, 3:30- 7:30 p.m.
2/25 Bozeman -- USDA Service Center (Bozeman Ranger District Office), West Huffine, 2-6 p.m.
2/25 Dillon -- Forest Service Office, 420 Barrett St., 3-8 p.m.
2/25 Lincoln -- Community Hall, 4-7 p.m.
3/2 Missoula -- Ruby's Inn and Convention Center, 4825 N. Reserve, 3-7 p.m.
3/2 Glasgow -- BLM Office, 3-7 p.m.
3/2 Libby -- Kootenai Forest Service Office, 1101 Highway 2, West, 6-9 p.m.
3/2 White Sulphur Springs -- Forest Service Office, 204 W. Folsom, 2-6 p.m.
3/3 Malta -- BLM Office, 501 S. 2nd Street E., 3-7 p.m.
3/3 Trout Creek -- Forest Service Office, 2693 Highway 200, 6-9 p.m.
3/4 Eureka -- Forest Service Office, 6-9 p.m.
3/9 Hamilton -- Presbyterian Church, 1220 W. Main, 4-7 p.m.