Wilderness and recreation activists find agreement on Bob Marshall expansion

Wilderness, conservation and recreation activists have wrapped up a proposal 10 years in the making that aims to extend 80,000 acres of designated wilderness to the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat and Mission Mountain areas.

The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project wilderness plan sets aside room for timber and outfitting businesses, mountain bikes, snowmobiles and wildlife.

The plan’s creators hope it goes before congress as a bill. If passed, it would extend the southwestern edge of the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wildernesses by 60,000 acres to further encompass wildlife habitats and migration routes.

Lee Bowman, a member of the project’s steering committee, said those areas are currently managed by the U.S. Forest Service as recommended wilderness.

“But that could easily change,” Bowman said. “Federal designation ensures my grandchild will be able to go fishing in the west fork of the Clearwater River 50 years from now for bull trout and grizzlies will probably be walking across the valley.”

The proposal first came to life in 2009 as a piece of Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. The act never made it past congress.

Last month, the proposal wrapped up with an agreement between the coalition and the International Mountain Bike Association that could create 3,000 acres of mountain bike area.

Bowman said the final product considers groups tied to the land who had a quieter voice when the conversation first began.

“We’ve always had a conservation, timber and recreation focus,” Bowman said. “But as the voice of mountain bikers has grown, we had to figure out how to appeal to bikers but not be detrimental to others, like hikers and outfitters, who love or rely on the same land.”

One of the most recent voices around the table has been Eric Melson, the Advocacy Manager for International Mountain Bike Association.

Melson joined the collaboration more than a year ago as an advocate for mountain bikers. He said limited opportunities for difficult trails around cities like Kalispell or Missoula have pulled mountain bikers into the backcountry.

“People have been riding in that area for about 10 years, even working on the trails,” Melson said. “Especially along the Bob Marshall, it’s been a special spot for experienced riders to have a more primitive experience.”

But some of those trails have overlapped with outfitting, hiking and hunting use.

In the agreement, the legislative proposal was adjusted to give mountain bikers use along the Spread Creek drainage in Lolo National Forest. The 3,000 acres of trails wrap throughout land originally slotted for non-mechanical wilderness.

Mountain Bike Missoula and Montana Mountain Bike Alliance also joined the negotiations, Melson said.

He said the mountain bike advocates released trails they used along North Fork drainage entirely in the final agreement.

“That was hard to give up, but some outfitters’ livelihoods depend on those trails,” he said. “No one got exactly what they wanted … it boiled down to retaining what we cherished, what we needed, what they needed and the landscape’s needs too.”

Bowman said for this plan to move beyond an idea, Montana representatives will have to pick up the issue.

“I feel we as citizens have done the heavy work. We’re ready for representatives to carry it across the line,” he said. “The end goal since this began a decade ago has been federal recognition.”

He said the plan already has local support.

A University of Montana poll released earlier this year found three-to-one support for the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project. The results were pulled from 500 registered voters throughout the state.

Melson said given the diversity of the voices who pulled together the wilderness plan, he believes it will gain support if “or when” it reaches Congress.

“Local landowners and stakeholders got together to determine what their backyards should look like,” Melson said. “These communities are going to live in the result of this proposal. That’s how it should be done.”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.