I am appealing to folks here for any information about mountain biking in Montana's Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. This national forest is currently in the final review of it's managment plan and has proposed in the final draft recommendations 9 new wilderness areas. They intend to not allow biking in these places whether or not these become designated wilderness. Five of these wilderness areas, maybe more, are in historical mountain biking areas. I am trying to learn new facts about biking in these places in order to lobby B-D forest management right to the end.
In case you have biked in S.W. Montana but didn't know what N.F. you were in, it spans from Chief Joseph Pass in the west to the Madison mountain range in the east. It starts along the MT.-ID. border near Monida Pass and stretches north to Phillipsburg.
Of the 5 historical mountain biking areas that could be taken from us, I can vouch for 3 of them, and the riding is fabulous. A couple of these areas are so isolated, many Montanans haven't heard of them. They are already protected with a no-motorized designation, and are so seldom used that in many places trails have grown over and you find yourself searching to pick up the route again. There is long, rolling ridgeline trails above timberline; grassy alpine basins; and numerous peaks up to 10,500 ft. You can ride all day and usually not see anyone except your friends and various animals. There is hundreds of miles of barely used trails. It would be a crime if it was taken from us without a fight.
The Beaverhead-Deerlodge management is still receptive to comment letters at this time, even though the last comment period has ended Oct. 31. The B-D managers claimed to recieve only 6 letters from bikers (out of 9,000) during their first comment period, and so they did not consider any mountain biking needs when forming their revised draft. (they admitted that they 'dropped the ball' forming the plan with mountain biking considerations, during the last public meeting) (they also did a very poor job getting the word out to the mountain biking community) They said they want to hear from us, but beware, they are also hard-core wilderness advocates. We need to give them a big earful about riding in the B-D N.F.
They should still have informational CD's available if you care to get educated. Call the forest headquarters in Dillon at 406-683-3900. Or call the ranger in charge of the process, Marty Gardner, at 406-683-3860.
We are so late with our comments because mountain bikers just don't have the organization and defensive drive that fosters good communication and awareness of threats to our natural habitat. We didn't know about the B-D N.F. plans because we were already concerned with the Gallatin N.F. plans. B-D N.F. didn't advertise to the public in Bozeman where there is an ample mountain biking population. IMBA has done a poor job getting the word out with their singletrack update reports. We were clueless until recently. Mountain bikers tend to just want to play, and don't care to lift a finger to understand issues. Some of you may be losing your favorite riding areas, or ones that you want to ride in the future. But I know that a few of you out there will help.
Thanks, Greg
an old rider from Bozeman
In case you have biked in S.W. Montana but didn't know what N.F. you were in, it spans from Chief Joseph Pass in the west to the Madison mountain range in the east. It starts along the MT.-ID. border near Monida Pass and stretches north to Phillipsburg.
Of the 5 historical mountain biking areas that could be taken from us, I can vouch for 3 of them, and the riding is fabulous. A couple of these areas are so isolated, many Montanans haven't heard of them. They are already protected with a no-motorized designation, and are so seldom used that in many places trails have grown over and you find yourself searching to pick up the route again. There is long, rolling ridgeline trails above timberline; grassy alpine basins; and numerous peaks up to 10,500 ft. You can ride all day and usually not see anyone except your friends and various animals. There is hundreds of miles of barely used trails. It would be a crime if it was taken from us without a fight.
The Beaverhead-Deerlodge management is still receptive to comment letters at this time, even though the last comment period has ended Oct. 31. The B-D managers claimed to recieve only 6 letters from bikers (out of 9,000) during their first comment period, and so they did not consider any mountain biking needs when forming their revised draft. (they admitted that they 'dropped the ball' forming the plan with mountain biking considerations, during the last public meeting) (they also did a very poor job getting the word out to the mountain biking community) They said they want to hear from us, but beware, they are also hard-core wilderness advocates. We need to give them a big earful about riding in the B-D N.F.
They should still have informational CD's available if you care to get educated. Call the forest headquarters in Dillon at 406-683-3900. Or call the ranger in charge of the process, Marty Gardner, at 406-683-3860.
We are so late with our comments because mountain bikers just don't have the organization and defensive drive that fosters good communication and awareness of threats to our natural habitat. We didn't know about the B-D N.F. plans because we were already concerned with the Gallatin N.F. plans. B-D N.F. didn't advertise to the public in Bozeman where there is an ample mountain biking population. IMBA has done a poor job getting the word out with their singletrack update reports. We were clueless until recently. Mountain bikers tend to just want to play, and don't care to lift a finger to understand issues. Some of you may be losing your favorite riding areas, or ones that you want to ride in the future. But I know that a few of you out there will help.
Thanks, Greg
an old rider from Bozeman