National Forest needs a travel plan

Editor’s note: The full version of this article originally appeared in the Boulder Monitor.

Our local counties offer a wealth of natural beauty along forested ridges of the Continental Divide. These great outdoors should be a magnet that attracts visitors, grounds Montana traditions, and drives local livelihoods. 

But that promise is at risk. A growing flood of unregulated traffic on Forest Service lands is undermining safety, damaging the environment, and compromising the long-term viability of our outdoors as an economic engine. Travel regulation would help remedy this problem. 

Yet most of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF) has lacked travel planning oversight for 30 years. Adjoining counties face the economic, environmental, and recreational fallout.

Regulation of forest travel has failed to keep up with demand for outdoor opportunity.  In 2005, federal mandate required each National Forest to identify routes where people can and cannot travel, and by what means, with a map enforceable by law. 

Twenty years later, the BDNF still has no travel plan.

Meanwhile, recreation has become an economy that pays dividends to counties.  But that falls apart on unregulated BDNF roads as impacts become more severe every season: 

• Heavy traffic undermines safety. Trail networks with more users are confusing.  Officials have no legal basis to issue travel citations.

• Erosion degrades watersheds, habitat, and cultural sites.

• Popular areas become overcrowded with conflict between users. Off-road travel results in lost riders and injury. 

• Criminal activity increases, especially at hotspots.

• Users of all interests are denied a law-abiding experience.

• Emergency response calls overwhelm law enforcement as first responders struggle with meagre resources.

Successive county commissioners have spent time and citizen tax dollars to urge the BDNF to prioritize travel management, only to have the process delayed repeatedly. 

In 2022, strong demand for outdoor recreation spurred progress. But the effort is stalling again as new priorities, including an executive order from President Trump to increase domestic timber production, have emerged.  Forest staff and budgets face reductions. We’ve been here before: Washington dictates priorities, putting local needs on the back-burner. 

Yet there are silver linings. Consensus is key to getting travel management back on track, and we have it. Citizens across the board want guidance, and a map. 

And the prep work is largely done. Counties can’t fill USFS staffing gaps, but we can lay out our needs. In Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, Butte-Silver Bow, Granite, Jefferson, Madison, and Powell counties, we’ve been promised a travel plan for more than 20 years. Instead, our lands and communities are suffering. National directives should not persistently supersede local priorities. 

The public needs a travel plan on BDNF lands, for safety, economic stability, and the long-term resilience of our forests. To decision-makers in Montana and Washington: Don’t miss this opportunity to push through a crucial initiative. 

Champion Montana’s natural treasures.  Create economic opportunity rather than forcing communities with limited resources to shoulder the burden.  Show how Montana’s largest National Forest can balance federal goals by delivering on a local priority.

Our counties will benefit. So will the state of Montana, the federal government, and all Americans who value outdoor opportunity and our country’s natural bounty.

Vaia Errett is vice-chair of Jefferson County’s Parks, Trails, and Recreation Commission. Dan Hagerty is Chair of the Jefferson County Commission.