Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal detailed at first public meeting

Members of the Upper Blackfoot Working Group unveiled their final draft of the Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal at a meeting in Lincoln last Wednesday/

Nearly 40 people showed up at the Lincoln Community Hall May 29 to learn more about the proposal that, if successful, would use the legislative process to improve forest management, create additional recreational opportunities and protect sensitive areas on the federal lands around Lincoln.

Members of the working group stressed their belief that the proposal balances the need for timber management and fire mitigation and the desire for more recreational opportunities with conservation concerns, including new wilderness designations.

"It's a give and take," said Zach Muse, along standing working group member and Lincoln's Fire chief.. "We can't ask for recreation, we can't ask for ATV trails without giving something. We did a lot of bartering, a lot of give and take, a lot of walking away from the table in a huff, before we got to this."

In his introduction to the proposal, Bill Cy, a local outfitter and Montana DNRC forester, said the group included representatives from the timber industry, the firefighting world, conservation and wilderness groups, hunting groups, motorized recreation groups and mountain biking advocates.

"Hopefully there's something in it for everybody," Cyr said. "Can you look at this map and find something on it that makes your life better? At least one thing? I'm not gonna say everything on it. I'm not gonna say the whole thing is what you would pick, but is there something on it that makes your life better? I think most everyone would say yes to that."

Cyr also noted that one organization was conspicuously absent from the effort.

"This is not a Forest Service action," he said. "They're not involved with this. This is basically lobbying for law for the land. They can't be involved. Don't think the Forest Service is doing something here."

It was an important point to make in a community that often harbors doubts about Forest Service motivations or capabilities, and that is directly affected by the agency's actions on the federal land that surrounds it. If the Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal were to the become law, the Forest Service would have to abide by it in its forest and travel planning processes.

The proposal includes 69,000 acres of Forest Restoration Area around Ogden Mountain and Lincoln Gulch.

"Part of the reason we were able to negotiate that is because that is where the most fire danger comes from for the Valley," retired logger Brent Anderson said.

"What we're proposing would be to remove that Inventoried Roadless designation," group member and Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse said "That doesn't mean it's a free for all. It means responsible timber management for the health of the forest, for habitat, for water quality protection... and for fire safety to protect our valley, so that it's not just a whole bunch of jackstrawed, ready-to-burn dead timber."

Under the proposal, any roads built for logging and fire mitigation would need to be restored within three years.

The proposal also calls for 5200 acres of protected snowmobiling in the Copper Bowls, 10,600 acres of motorized recreation in the Bartlett Creek and Sandbar Creek areas and 70 miles of motorized and non-motorized trails that would create connected routes around the valley for both mountain bikers and OHV users, with Lincoln as the focal point of both systems.

Both Russ Ehnes, a member of the Blackfoot Valley Off Highway Vehicle association and a former professional Off Highway vehicle advocate, and Eric Grove, former owner of Great Falls Cyclery and a mountain biking advocate, have been working to create the separate trail systems in the Lincoln area for more than a decade.

Ehnes began working on a motorized trail proposal in 2002 when the Forest Service decided to revise the travel plan for the valley. Grove began efforts to create a mountain bike trail system around Lincoln in 2007. Both see the potential for Lincoln and both believe their respective trails systems will provide a notable economic benefit to the town.

Both systems made some headway in the Forest Service's Blackfoot non-winter Travel Plan, with new trails for both OHVs and mountain bikes are currently being built in the area. However they fall short of what both groups hoped for.

As they worked to developing the trails for the proposal Ehnes and Grove found a path forward for both of them through discussion, collaboration and a day spent looking at options on the ground.

Balancing the forest management and recreation opportunities are the proposals Conservation Management Areas and additional wilderness.

The proposal would create the Stonewall CMA north of Lincoln, the Rocky Mountain Front CMA in the Alice Creek area and the Continental Divide CMA along the eastern edge of the Lincoln Ranger District. Together they total 63,00 acres in regions that are, for the most part, already Inventoried Roadless Areas.

CMA's are a designation established by the Heritage Act. They allow existing uses to continue, but generally prohibits new activities that would damage the character of the area.

In other words, whatever use is currently allowed will still be allowed, such as existing mining claims, snowmobiling, existing roads and grazing, but new mining, trails or roads would be prohibited.

The new wilderness outlined in the Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal includes 16,000 acres that would be added to the Scapegoat Wilderness in three areas: a section north of the Copper Bowls, a doglegged addition that includes Indian Meadows and Falls Creek, and an area north of Huckleberry Pass that ties into the wilderness additions included in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Management Project.

Finally, there's the proposed 40,000 acre Nevada Mountain Wilderness south of Lincoln, which

Muse said gave the group the most grief, heartache and blood, sweat and tears as a stand-alone wilderness. He said the area is already a Recommend Wilderness Area, but he said the boundaries was modified with the input of the people in the surrounding area to ensure grazing permits and mining claims were outside the wilderness boundary.

"it's a pristine green, rugged area. It's beautiful. We flew it thanks to the Wilderness society, so we could see what its about. It needs to be protected for these people's water, its their back yard," Muse said.

While the proposal was met with some questions, the general reaction seemed to be one of appreciation for the balanced nature of the proposal.

Rick Foreman believes it's a good plan and appreciates that fact that Forest Service had nothing to do with it. "It's a proposal from the community," he said. "I hope it goes through."

"There's been a lot of work that has gone in to this, it's really obvious. A lot of things are still unsettled it sounds like," said Bonniue Henault, who had questions about the CMAs. "If you're just getting involved in it like we are, you don't know enough to know the questions to ask. I think that's where a lot of people are coming from. You have to digest it a little more."

Becky Garland, who helped develop the collaborative Blackfoot Challenge in the 90's and whose father spearheaded the effort to see the Scapegoat designated as a wilderness, believes the discussion that went into the proposal were long overdue..

"Being a lifelong resident of Lincoln and having a retail business for 50 years out of my 63 years, something like this hasneeded to happen," she said. "We've been running all over each other. Everybody loves Lincoln. Let's not love it to death, let's keep it the way it is to give everybody a space. I think it's a great collaborative effort in that context, it's a great collaborative plan."

Not everyone was entirely on board, however.

Louie Bouma, who was involved with the working group due to his knowledge of the eastern side of the Lincoln Valley, appreciates that the proposal would push back the potential additions to the Scapegoat, but he said he's against because the prohibitions it puts on future wood and mineral extraction in areas like Nevada Mountain and the CMAs.

"I just don't like locking things up permanently, forever, when I believe this country - future generations- may need this material," he said. "I'm not saying I'm against a moratorium or something like that for a time, but I don't think it's right to lock it off permanently."

Karyn Good, who coordinated many of the meetings between the Working Group and property owners, said they only received two written comments at the meeting, a question on weed control related to the proposed trails, and a statement t against the stand-alone nature of the proposed Nevada Mountain Wilderness.

Other questions brought up to working group after the meeting involved concerns about potential trespassing, and questions about public scoping and potential for litigation on projects in Forest Restoration Areas. She explained that projects would still have to go through the NEPA process, but removing the roadless status and providing a Congressional mandate on timber activities greatly increases the likelihood of seeing projects completed on the ground.

Good said several folks who attended were initially hesitant about the legislative proposal, but left believing it will be good of Lincoln, and she said people were happy to see diverse interests working effectively together.

"We spent lot of time building trust and having hard conversations," Ehnes told the BVD after the meeting. "That was one of the things I appreciated most about this effort. After we all got together and built that trust and figured out there was something in this for everybody, we could all defend each other's point of view, and mean it. I've never been in that position before. Its really cool."

Watch the BVD for additional information and updates on the Lincoln Vally Public Lands Proposal.