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By ELIZABETH LADEN
ISLAND PARK — A U. S. senator from Montana has introduced a bill that would close Mt. Jefferson’s Montana side to snowmobiling. This popular winter playground in Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest is accessed by trails on Idaho’s Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Closing the area would adversely impact winter business in Shotgun, all of Island Park, and West Yellowstone say areas business owners and snowmobile enthusiasts.
When past proposals threatened to close the area, thousands of individual snowmobilers protested, as well as snowmobiling organizations and businesses. Now, they are again working hard to stop the the Mt. Jefferson area wilderness designation. The area has been a proposed wilderness area for many years, and Beaverhead-Deerlodge managers have allowed winter motorized use under pressure from snowmobiling interests.
Tester will host a field hearing on his bill at 5:30 p. m. Friday, September 11 at the University of Montana Ballroom in Missoula. It is being called "Montana's Wilderness Hearing" and is expected to draw a large number of participants for and against the legislation.
The bill would designate 618,000 acres of new national forest wilderness and 59,000 acres of BLM wilderness, totaling 677,000 acres as a concession to environmentalists who agreed not to oppose the logging and motorized recreation the bill allows in other areas.
Standing with loggers, outfitters, conservationists, hunters, and fishermen who spent years working together on the plan for Montana’s forests, Senator Jon Tester in July introduced the legislation he says will reform forest management to “make it work” for Montana.
“Our forests, and the communities and folks who rely on them, face a crisis right now,” Tester said at a news conference at RY Timber in Townsend, MT. “Our local sawmills are on the brink, families are out of work, while our forests turn red from an unprecedented outbreak of pine beetles, waiting for the next big wildfire. It’s a crisis that demands action now. This bill is a made-in-Montana solution that took years of working together and hearing input to create a common sense forest plan.”
Tester said his 80-page bill, formally called the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, will create jobs, protect clean water, and keep Montana’s prized hunting and fishing habitat healthy for future generations.
Tester’s Forest Jobs Bill affects Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the Three Rivers District of the Kootenai National Forest and the Seeley Lake District of the Lolo National Forest.
According to Tester, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, in part:
• Requires the U.S. Forest Service to harvest at least 70,000 acres over ten years in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
• Requires the U.S. Forest Service to harvest at least 30,000 acres over ten years in the Kootenai National Forest.
• Creates a new Big Hole National Recreation Area.
• Sets aside some forest areas for snowmobiles and bicycles.
• Releases 76,000 of acres of BLM land to uses such as timber harvest and recreation. Right now that land, part of seven Wilderness Study Areas, is not official wilderness but has been managed as if it were.
• Ensures about 677,000 acres of hunting and fishing habitat now and for future generations of Montanans through wilderness designation.
• Does not impact grazing rights.
Tester launched an information Web site, tester.senate.gov/forest, which includes maps, a link to the legislation, and a feedback forum. Citizens can also use the site to sign on as “citizen cosponsors” of the measure.
The legislation must pass both the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives before it is signed into law by the President.
“Senator Tester’s landmark legislation is a “made-in-Montana” solution to decades-old fights over wilderness and forest management,” said David Dreher, Washington Representative for the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. “It will provide jobs, improve forest health and fish and wildlife habitat, and ensure that traditions like hunting, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding can be experienced here for generations to come. We applaud Senator Tester’s years of work to bring a diverse group of interests to the table in crafting this legislation. This balanced measure breaks through years of gridlock, and recognizes that our forests are big enough for everyone to enjoy. This measure will forever protect special places like the East and West Pioneers, the Sapphires, Lost Cabin, and Lima Peaks, while giving this ‘gold standard’ of protection to additional acres of some of the state’s most beloved wilderness areas, including the Lee Metcalf, Anaconda-Pintlar, and North Fork Blackfoot-Monture Creek,” Dreher added.
“For more than two years, Senator Tester has been a strong leader on timber issues,” said Senator Max Baucus. “He knows how important it is to put people back to work in the woods, and to create good-paying jobs. As a fellow Montanan, I’m proud of the efforts Senator Tester has made to keep the timber industry strong, while protecting our outdoor heritage.”
The Idaho State Snowmobile association has released these “key talking points” to the bill’s opponents:
1. The Forest Service’s decision retaining the north half of Mount Jefferson for recommended wilderness and leaving the south half open for snowmobiling should be allowed to stand. This revision represents a true compromise and achieves several goals:
• The north half of the area recommended for wilderness abuts that portion of BLM lands also recommended for wilderness, as
requested by pro-wilderness groups.
• The south half, accessible only from Idaho, is left open, and meets the needs of snowmobilers and recreation dependent economies in Island Park, West Yellowstone, and Eastern Idaho.
• This compromise has worked satisfactorily for five years.
2. The south half of Mount Jefferson is extremely important to snowmobiling.
• It is widely known as “the crown jewel of western snowmobiling”.
• It is the only area in Island Park, famous for snowmobiling, where the rugged, challenging high mountain experience can be found.
• While famous for challenging snowmobiling, Mount Jefferson can also be easily accessed by intermediate riders who seek outstanding scenery.
3. Snowmobile access to Jefferson is crucial to Island Park’s economy.
• Mount Jefferson is the “draw” that brings
snowmobilers to the area.
• Visitors who stay in the Island Park area to snowmobile spend an average $300 a day per person when using their own sleds and $400 a day if they rent a sled.
• Mount Jefferson access is important for local real estate values.
4. Few, if any, significant adverse effects from snowmobiles have been identified after many years of use and intense study.
• There has been no documented impact on the wolverine or any other animal.
• Although a few backcountry skiers use the area, their needs can be satisfied by the north half that is closed to snowmobiling.
Kerry White of the Citizens for Balanced Use in Gallatin Gateway, MT. is one of the leaders of the fight to stop the bill.
White says, “The 7,000 acres per year of timber harvests allowed by the bill will do nothing for the ailing industry. With more than 1.6 million acres of beetle-killed forest in the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF), it would take more than 200 years to address just the dead trees that exist today. The buzz words of ‘restoration’ and ‘stewardship logging’ is just another way to say ‘temporary jobs through road ripping projects’. Never will the American public be able to benefit from this resource as the infrastructure will be gone. According to the energy analysis just completed by Steve Jennings of Dillon, more than 3.4 billion dollars of biomass energy stands dead in the BDNF.”
White says the bill will not benefit recreation as much as Tester claims. “Thousands of citizens have contacted Tester in opposition to the Beaverhead Partnership Agreement’s language that limits all snowmobiles to existing trails with no off trail riding. Many areas targeted for wilderness in the bill have numerous roads and trails that will become off limits to more than 97% of the recreating public. Less than 3% of the public recreates in wilderness areas, according to a 2007 study done by the Forest Service in the BDNF.”
White also notes that the BDNF has “vast reserves of precious metals that provide the raw materials for almost everything used in peoples day to day activities. The proposed wilderness areas have many of these resources in them, private in-holdings. and thousands 1000s of small family mining claims. The Forest Service is required to provide reasonable access to these in-holdings in wilderness but as with the claims that existed in the Absorkee Beartooth wilderness when it was established the Forest Service made it harder and harder for these folks to access and work their claims. Those claims are now gone along with a part of our Montana heritage.”
In August, Harstad Strategic Research conducted telephone surveys of more than 500 registered Montana voters to learn how they feel about the bill. The poll was commissioned by Montana business owners, loggers, sportsmen, and conservationists, including Trout Unlimited. About seven in ten Montanans say they like it; 15 percent don't like it; and the rest are undecided.
To express your opinion on this bill, contact U. S. Senators
By ELIZABETH LADEN
ISLAND PARK — A U. S. senator from Montana has introduced a bill that would close Mt. Jefferson’s Montana side to snowmobiling. This popular winter playground in Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest is accessed by trails on Idaho’s Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Closing the area would adversely impact winter business in Shotgun, all of Island Park, and West Yellowstone say areas business owners and snowmobile enthusiasts.
When past proposals threatened to close the area, thousands of individual snowmobilers protested, as well as snowmobiling organizations and businesses. Now, they are again working hard to stop the the Mt. Jefferson area wilderness designation. The area has been a proposed wilderness area for many years, and Beaverhead-Deerlodge managers have allowed winter motorized use under pressure from snowmobiling interests.
Tester will host a field hearing on his bill at 5:30 p. m. Friday, September 11 at the University of Montana Ballroom in Missoula. It is being called "Montana's Wilderness Hearing" and is expected to draw a large number of participants for and against the legislation.
The bill would designate 618,000 acres of new national forest wilderness and 59,000 acres of BLM wilderness, totaling 677,000 acres as a concession to environmentalists who agreed not to oppose the logging and motorized recreation the bill allows in other areas.
Standing with loggers, outfitters, conservationists, hunters, and fishermen who spent years working together on the plan for Montana’s forests, Senator Jon Tester in July introduced the legislation he says will reform forest management to “make it work” for Montana.
“Our forests, and the communities and folks who rely on them, face a crisis right now,” Tester said at a news conference at RY Timber in Townsend, MT. “Our local sawmills are on the brink, families are out of work, while our forests turn red from an unprecedented outbreak of pine beetles, waiting for the next big wildfire. It’s a crisis that demands action now. This bill is a made-in-Montana solution that took years of working together and hearing input to create a common sense forest plan.”
Tester said his 80-page bill, formally called the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, will create jobs, protect clean water, and keep Montana’s prized hunting and fishing habitat healthy for future generations.
Tester’s Forest Jobs Bill affects Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the Three Rivers District of the Kootenai National Forest and the Seeley Lake District of the Lolo National Forest.
According to Tester, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, in part:
• Requires the U.S. Forest Service to harvest at least 70,000 acres over ten years in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
• Requires the U.S. Forest Service to harvest at least 30,000 acres over ten years in the Kootenai National Forest.
• Creates a new Big Hole National Recreation Area.
• Sets aside some forest areas for snowmobiles and bicycles.
• Releases 76,000 of acres of BLM land to uses such as timber harvest and recreation. Right now that land, part of seven Wilderness Study Areas, is not official wilderness but has been managed as if it were.
• Ensures about 677,000 acres of hunting and fishing habitat now and for future generations of Montanans through wilderness designation.
• Does not impact grazing rights.
Tester launched an information Web site, tester.senate.gov/forest, which includes maps, a link to the legislation, and a feedback forum. Citizens can also use the site to sign on as “citizen cosponsors” of the measure.
The legislation must pass both the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives before it is signed into law by the President.
“Senator Tester’s landmark legislation is a “made-in-Montana” solution to decades-old fights over wilderness and forest management,” said David Dreher, Washington Representative for the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. “It will provide jobs, improve forest health and fish and wildlife habitat, and ensure that traditions like hunting, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding can be experienced here for generations to come. We applaud Senator Tester’s years of work to bring a diverse group of interests to the table in crafting this legislation. This balanced measure breaks through years of gridlock, and recognizes that our forests are big enough for everyone to enjoy. This measure will forever protect special places like the East and West Pioneers, the Sapphires, Lost Cabin, and Lima Peaks, while giving this ‘gold standard’ of protection to additional acres of some of the state’s most beloved wilderness areas, including the Lee Metcalf, Anaconda-Pintlar, and North Fork Blackfoot-Monture Creek,” Dreher added.
“For more than two years, Senator Tester has been a strong leader on timber issues,” said Senator Max Baucus. “He knows how important it is to put people back to work in the woods, and to create good-paying jobs. As a fellow Montanan, I’m proud of the efforts Senator Tester has made to keep the timber industry strong, while protecting our outdoor heritage.”
The Idaho State Snowmobile association has released these “key talking points” to the bill’s opponents:
1. The Forest Service’s decision retaining the north half of Mount Jefferson for recommended wilderness and leaving the south half open for snowmobiling should be allowed to stand. This revision represents a true compromise and achieves several goals:
• The north half of the area recommended for wilderness abuts that portion of BLM lands also recommended for wilderness, as
requested by pro-wilderness groups.
• The south half, accessible only from Idaho, is left open, and meets the needs of snowmobilers and recreation dependent economies in Island Park, West Yellowstone, and Eastern Idaho.
• This compromise has worked satisfactorily for five years.
2. The south half of Mount Jefferson is extremely important to snowmobiling.
• It is widely known as “the crown jewel of western snowmobiling”.
• It is the only area in Island Park, famous for snowmobiling, where the rugged, challenging high mountain experience can be found.
• While famous for challenging snowmobiling, Mount Jefferson can also be easily accessed by intermediate riders who seek outstanding scenery.
3. Snowmobile access to Jefferson is crucial to Island Park’s economy.
• Mount Jefferson is the “draw” that brings
snowmobilers to the area.
• Visitors who stay in the Island Park area to snowmobile spend an average $300 a day per person when using their own sleds and $400 a day if they rent a sled.
• Mount Jefferson access is important for local real estate values.
4. Few, if any, significant adverse effects from snowmobiles have been identified after many years of use and intense study.
• There has been no documented impact on the wolverine or any other animal.
• Although a few backcountry skiers use the area, their needs can be satisfied by the north half that is closed to snowmobiling.
Kerry White of the Citizens for Balanced Use in Gallatin Gateway, MT. is one of the leaders of the fight to stop the bill.
White says, “The 7,000 acres per year of timber harvests allowed by the bill will do nothing for the ailing industry. With more than 1.6 million acres of beetle-killed forest in the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF), it would take more than 200 years to address just the dead trees that exist today. The buzz words of ‘restoration’ and ‘stewardship logging’ is just another way to say ‘temporary jobs through road ripping projects’. Never will the American public be able to benefit from this resource as the infrastructure will be gone. According to the energy analysis just completed by Steve Jennings of Dillon, more than 3.4 billion dollars of biomass energy stands dead in the BDNF.”
White says the bill will not benefit recreation as much as Tester claims. “Thousands of citizens have contacted Tester in opposition to the Beaverhead Partnership Agreement’s language that limits all snowmobiles to existing trails with no off trail riding. Many areas targeted for wilderness in the bill have numerous roads and trails that will become off limits to more than 97% of the recreating public. Less than 3% of the public recreates in wilderness areas, according to a 2007 study done by the Forest Service in the BDNF.”
White also notes that the BDNF has “vast reserves of precious metals that provide the raw materials for almost everything used in peoples day to day activities. The proposed wilderness areas have many of these resources in them, private in-holdings. and thousands 1000s of small family mining claims. The Forest Service is required to provide reasonable access to these in-holdings in wilderness but as with the claims that existed in the Absorkee Beartooth wilderness when it was established the Forest Service made it harder and harder for these folks to access and work their claims. Those claims are now gone along with a part of our Montana heritage.”
In August, Harstad Strategic Research conducted telephone surveys of more than 500 registered Montana voters to learn how they feel about the bill. The poll was commissioned by Montana business owners, loggers, sportsmen, and conservationists, including Trout Unlimited. About seven in ten Montanans say they like it; 15 percent don't like it; and the rest are undecided.
To express your opinion on this bill, contact U. S. Senators
