Help Save Trails in Montana
The Ten Lakes Scenic Area East of Eureka provides some of the best true backcountry alpine riding in the state. This type of trail access is becoming increasingly endangered with recent closures in Montana and Idaho. The Ten Lakes Travel Management Proposed Action recommends reducing trails open to mountain biking from 85.9 miles to 16.4 miles.
Mountain bikes are already an established use in the Ten Lakes area and should continue to be allowed. Banning them disenfranchises a significant user group creating conflict among users that are otherwise very supportive of preserving natural spaces and enjoying the outdoors in a non-motorized environment.
Mountain biking is growing and has a positive impact on local Montana economies without major impact on natural resources. We also encourage more research on the impact of mountain bikes in the Ten Lakes area in relation to other user groups before banning them.
The Forest Service is accepting comments on the plan until May 14th. Please take the time to comment on the plan before then to preserve mountain biking in this unique part of our state.
Send all comments to:
comments-northern-kootenai-fortine@fs.fed.us - Please include "Ten Lakes Travel Management" in the subject line.
More Information:
www.fs.usda.gov
Mountain bikes are already an established use in the Ten Lakes area and should continue to be allowed. Banning them disenfranchises a significant user group creating conflict among users that are otherwise very supportive of preserving natural spaces and enjoying the outdoors in a non-motorized environment.
Mountain biking is growing and has a positive impact on local Montana economies without major impact on natural resources. We also encourage more research on the impact of mountain bikes in the Ten Lakes area in relation to other user groups before banning them.
The Forest Service is accepting comments on the plan until May 14th. Please take the time to comment on the plan before then to preserve mountain biking in this unique part of our state.
Send all comments to:
comments-northern-kootenai-fortine@fs.fed.us - Please include "Ten Lakes Travel Management" in the subject line.
More Information:
www.fs.usda.gov
Author Info:
Member since May 29, 2008
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A quick pic from the area - there's precious few areas in the U.S. where bikes are still allowed in areas like this: tinyurl.com/odap2bp
And it's not just the Ten Lakes area - the Bitterroot, south of Missoula, stands to lose a ton of trails to biking in the near future. The Bitterroot Backcountry Cyclists (www.bitterrootbackcountrycyclists.org/home) have been maintaining the trails in that area for years, and now they're about to get shut out of the very trails that they were upkeeping.
And in the Flathead National Forest, a proposed management plan is adding around 100,000 acres of recommended wilderness where bikes are likely to be banned. This is in a forest where almost 50% of it is already closed to bikes due to designated Wilderness.
Conflicts on these trails are rarely an issue. This being western Montana, there just aren't that many people. It's rare to see another person on these trails, and it's even more rare that trail users don't get along. There's hundreds of miles of trail on the forest that are disappearing because there's simply not enough people using them and maintaining them. The Forest Service needs more users on these trails, not less.
Flathead Fat Tires (www.flatheadfattires.com) is the local bike group that's doing its best to deal with the Ten Lakes issue, but they're a small club and they don't have a ton of members. Going up against some of the nationally supported wilderness groups is a tall order, so any support and comments that you can send along to the Forest Service will be a huuuge help.
petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-mountain-bikes-wilderness-study-areas-and-recommended-wilderness-areas
Almost all trails that no one hikes, no one rides horses on, and mountain bikers maintain. Always tempted to see whatever happened to some trails in the Beaverhead, probably disappeared by now.
As mentioned above...
Send all comments to:
comments-northern-kootenai-fortine@fs.fed.us - Please include "Ten Lakes Travel Management" in the subject line.
I would like to submit my comment for consideration in regard to excluding mountain bikes from the Ten Lakes scenic area in Eureka, MT. As an avid cyclist with a strong knowledge of trail maintenance, etiquette, and the value of human powered exploration and travel, I strongly suggest mountain biking remain open in the Ten Lakes area and be included in the travel management plans without any further restriction. Mountain biking is clean, healthy, and quiet. Mountain biking can be done with minimal impact on trails and without complicating travel management issues.
If traffic conflicts, etiquette, or appropriate conditions of use are the problem, they can be addressed with education, not restriction. Take for example the city of Boise’s Ridge to Rivers program and the voluntary use of the TrailSmart education program. This type of program, if well promoted to trail users, can save maintenance, conflicts, and safeguard other trail users and create a more harmonious trail use environment. Please see the following link for more information. www.trailsmart.org
"If the Forest Service or any land management agency is interested in this program, it can be licensed for free by the agency. I produced the program and gave it to the City of Boise and will do it again with your agency in exchange the travel management plans do not include restrictions on mountain bikes in the Ten Lakes scenic area."
Please keep me informed of this decision on this issue.
Best regards,
Brian Wiley