Storm fallout blocks trails

The same storms that caused flood damage in Glacier National Park last fall took a toll on trail systems in and around the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

Plans to clear fallen trees from trails in the complex will be a major topic of discussion during the annual Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex meeting today at the Flathead National Forest Supervisor's Office in Kalispell.

Heavy rains in early November caused an estimated $1 million in trail damage in Glacier Park, where officials are expecting some emergency-funding relief as well as support from a nonprofit fundraising campaign.

The Forest Service, however, is strapped with "the tightest budgets we've ever known" for wilderness management, according to Amber Kamps, Lincoln District Ranger and leader of the multidistrict Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex organization.

"We are now in uncharted territory," Kamps wrote in the organization's recent newsletter. "Budgets are lower now than they ever have been, yet the needs and demands of our backcountry are higher than ever with an increasing trend projected for the decades ahead."

Deb Mucklow, Spotted Bear District ranger, said there are "tremendous" amounts of trees blown down on trails - inside and outside of areas recently burned by wildfires.

"It seems to be very widespread, dead trees, green trees," Mucklow said. "It was just the right conditions of saturated soils from rain and early snowfall to warmer temperatures and strong winds."

Last fall, Forest Service crews and hunting parties had to cut their way out of the backcountry, Mucklow said.

There is blowdown along the main road leading to Meadow Creek, on the Spotted Bear River Road, Spotted Bear campgrounds and around the ranger station.

Mucklow estimates there are at least 40 trees down along one stretch of road where typically two or three would be in the spring.

The Spotted Bear District plans to propose roadside timber salvage sales soon, Mucklow said.

It appears trails were further obstructed by trees blown down in January storms. These obstacles were just recently discovered by Forest Service snow survey crews.

Mucklow is anticipating the need for major trail-clearing efforts on the mainline trails such as the South Fork River trails, Gordon Creek, Morrison Creek and the Big River Trail.

"We don't know about all of our damage," she said, referring to secondary trails that have not been checked.

Most of the work will be done with fewer seasonal trail workers.

Because of budget cuts, Mucklow anticipates having from 15 to 20 fewer seasonal workers on the district compared with last year's numbers. She said the seasonal staff typically numbers 50-60 people.

For years, the district also has relied heavily on volunteers for trail-clearing work, and that need will be amplified this year.

Mucklow said that last year, the Spotted Bear District had an estimated $350,000 worth of in-kind volunteer trail work, and she expects a similar turnout this year.

The Back Country Horsemen, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, and programs for at-risk youths typically provide a major share of the volunteer muscle, but individual volunteers, including retired Forest Service employees, also contribute.

The volunteer efforts are appreciated, Mucklow said, but training, supervising and coordinating volunteers requires considerable effort for district staffers.

Mucklow and other rangers around the complex are advising wilderness users to be prepared with saws and axes to get through blowdown, and they are reminding users that chain saws are not allowed in designated wilderness areas.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com