Dec. 20, 2005 - - The BlueRibbon Coalition says that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington has issued an order that requires ending some snowmobile trail grooming in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.
The order was issued because of a motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit that claims the U.S. Forest Service failed to "properly consult" the effects of snowmobile trail grooming on the area's woodland caribou. Woodland caribou are on the "threatened" list of the Endangered Species Act.
Snowmobiling is unaffected by the ruling, which only restricts grooming on a handful of trails in a specific "caribou recovery zone" on U.S. Forest Service-managed lands. The ruling does not affect grooming on other trails on Forest Service-managed lands outside the recovery zone.
"What started as a request to stop all trail grooming on the forest became a symbolic effort to obtain narrow relief in a very limited area. In the bigger picture, North Idaho is still pretty much 'open' as before to snowmobile access," said Paul Trucke, a Boise-based attorney representing snowmobile clubs and local businesses.
More info:
www.sharetrails.org