ISLAND PARK — U. S. Senator Jon Tester, D – Montana’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act is both loved and hated. Many area business owners and snowmobilers say it will bring disaster to Island Park and nearby communities because it designates Mt. Jefferson, in the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, as a wilderness area. Such a designation would mean that nothing motorized can operate there — from chainsaws to motorbikes to snowmobiles.
Susie Browning, a Granite County, Montana, commissioner calls it a courageous new bill bringing hope and opportunity to her state. Newspapers across Montana have endorsed it. Many environmentalists support it. Some logging groups like it because it opens up logging; others say it does not do enough for logging and the wood products industry.
The snowmobiling community says Mt. Jefferson is one of the area’s major attractions. The area they ride to for pristine powder and magnificent views is reached from trails on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
For years, the BlueRibbon Coalition, Idaho State Snowmobile Association (ISSA), and other motorized recreation advocacy groups worked hard to convince the Beaverhead -Deerlodge National Forest to remove the snowmobiling area on Mt. Jefferson from its list of recommended wilderness areas when the forest revised its plan. The Island Park Area Chamber of Commerce and the city of Island Park also supported these efforts, and part of Mt. Jefferson was removed from the list.
Then along came Tester’s act, in which all of Mt. Jefferson is to be designated wilderness. The bill sits in the United States Senate awaiting action.
Snowmobile groups have not given up. This week, they sent supporters action alerts asking them to ask U. S. Senator Jim Risch, R – Idaho to join U. S. Senator Mike Crapo, R – Idaho, in having the Mt. Jefferson wilderness recommendation deleted from the act.
“In order to stop or fix this legislation, we need help from both our senators. Senator Crapo has a good understanding of the issue and is engaged,” wrote Sandra Mitchell, ISSA’s public lands director. “However, I am concerned that Senator Risch’s staff knows little about the issue. That is our job! We need to explain it to them and tell them how important Mt. Jefferson is to the snowmobile community. We cannot expect people to fight for us if they don’t know there is a fight!”
Mitchell asked people to contact one of Risch’s aides, Amy Taylor — Amy_Taylor@risch.senate.go v or 208.523.5541.
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act would designate 618,000 acres of new National Forest wilderness and 59,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wilderness, totaling 677,000 acres. All of Mount Jefferson is one of the new wildernesses, despite the revised Beaverhead plan that left part of the mountain open to snowmobiling.
“The Forest Service’s decision retaining the north half of Mt. Jefferson for recommended wilderness and leaving the south half open for snowmobiling should be allowed to stand,” says Mitchell.
Mitchell says the Beaverhead-Deerlodge’s revision achieves several goals:
- The north half of the area recommended for wilderness abuts that portion of BLM lands also recommended for wilderness, as requested by pro-wilderness groups.
The south half, accessible only from Idaho, is left open, and meets the needs of snowmobilers and recreation dependent economies in Island Park, West Yellowstone, and Eastern Idaho.
- This compromise has been in place and has worked satisfactorily for five years.
- The south half of Mt. Jefferson is important to snowmobiling. It is the best area in Island Park, famous for snowmobiling, where the rugged, challenging high mountain experience can be found.
- Snowmobile access to Jefferson is crucial to Island Park’s economy. It is marketed as the draw that brings snowmobilers to the area. Kevin Phillips of Mountain Mayhem, a snowmobile business, says 90% of his sled rentals want to go to Jefferson. Visitors who stay in the Island Park area to snowmobile spend an average of $300/day per person when using their own sleds and $400/day if they rent a sled.
- Closing the area would reduce the number of jobs the snowmobiling and resort industry make available in Island Park and West Yellowstone.
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, in part:
- Requires the U.S. Forest Service to harvest at least 70,000 acres over ten years in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
- Requires the Forest Service to harvest at least 30,000 acres over ten years in the Kootenai Forest.
- Sets aside forest areas for snowmobiles and bicycles.
- Releases 76,000 of acres of BLM land to uses such as timber harvest and recreation.
- Does not impact grazing rights.