Kootenai National Forest extends public comment on snowmobile plan

by SCOTT SHINDLEDECKER
The Western News | August 29, 2023 7:00 AM

Requests from the public led Kootenai National Forest officials to extend the time period to offer comments on a proposal for its over-snow motorized use travel plan.

According to a press release from the agency, the scoping period has been extended until Sept. 29 to provide more time for comments on the proposed action.

This travel plan includes National Forest System lands on the Libby, Cabinet, Three Rivers, Fortine and Rexford Ranger Districts across the forest.

It does not include the Ten Lakes Travel Management project area (approximately 64,000 acres including the wilderness study area) because it will be covered under a separate planning effort.

KNF Planning Staff Officer John Carlson said the agency wants to hear from the public regarding areas of known historic and present use that the forest is showing will be closed with this proposed action.

“Right now, 1.9 million acres of the Kootenai National Forest, about 88% of the forest’s total acres, are accessible for some form of over-snow motorized use, whether that’s on designated trails or cross country travel,” Carlson said. “Under the proposal, roughly 86% would remain open.

“The forest is proposing to close some areas based on management area direction developed for the 2015 revised forest plan. Now, eight years later, the forest is are looking for specific comments on leaving some of these Management Areas open. I know for some people, when they read this, the takeaway was what we were going to be closing, but these areas are still on the table to be designated open based on area specific comments. The forest needs public comment to develop alternatives to this proposed action. That‘s part of the NEPA process,” Carlson said.

Lincoln County District 3 Commissioner Josh Letcher is not happy with the proposal.

“It’s terrible,” Letcher said. “The maps they displayed at the public meetings were confusing and the keys were incorrect. They didn’t ask the community what they think. No one talked to the Eureka snowmobile club about this. The plan is confusing at best.

“It’s just another restriction of public-land use, another effort to close off areas,” Letcher added.

The proposal calls for keeping open 1,257,633 acres to cross country over-snow vehicle use. About 278,000 acres will be available for cross country travel from Dec. 1 to March 31 and then about 979,000 acres will be available for cross country travel from Dec. 1 to May 31. Areas with a medium to high probability of supporting grizzly bear denning habitat will close to motor vehicle use on March 31 each year. All over-snow vehicles are permitted to operate within these areas during the designed seasons of use.

The preliminary proposed action also includes approximately 642 miles of over-snow trails, consisting of approximately 274 miles of groomed trails and approximately 368 miles of ungroomed trails. The majority of the groomed trails are currently maintained through special use permits with local snowmobile clubs.

Of the groomed trails, 13 (approximately 35 percent) are only groomed from Dec. 1 to March 31 to be consistent with the Forest Plan. The other groomed trails may be groomed from Dec. 1 to May 31, depending on snow conditions each year. Designated class of vehicles on groomed trails match existing permits and are fully open without restrictions.

Additional information about the preliminary proposed action and supporting information are available online at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/kootenai/?project=64358.

If you comment on this proposal, you will also have the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Assessment before we issue a decision. Specific written comments (§218.2) on the proposed project are most helpful if provided by September 29 th , 2023.

Written comments must be submitted via mail, fax or in person (Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, excluding holidays) to:

Kootenai National Forest

Attn: Over-snow Motorized Travel Plan

31374 US Highway 2

Libby, Montana 59923-3022

Fax: (406) 283-7709

Electronic comments including attachments may be submitted electronically in word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf), text (.txt), hypertext markup language (.html), or portable document format (.pdf). Electronic comments must be submitted by visiting the project webpage:

https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public//CommentInput?Project=64358. Under the Get Connected tab, click on Comment/Object on Project on the right side of the page.

For additional information, please contact John Carlson, Planning Staff Officer at 406-283-7695 or john.carlson@usda.gov, or Kristin Whisennand at kristin.whisennand@usda.gov.

Or visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/kootenai/?project=64358.