Travel Planning: Lewis and Clark National Forest — Rocky Mountain Front Division: Final Decision

Montanans Welcome RMF Travel Plan

Chris Bechtold, author of Current Adventure: In the Wake of Lewis & Clark, celebrates the importance of the new Travel Plan for the Rocky Mountain Front:

Here on the Rocky Mountain Front the smoke and heat of summer have long since blown away and we are entering that time of year when the wind and the cold become the focus of most conversations. It is a time of year when the trails along the front are windswept and drifted, with only the tracks of the wild critters upon them. . . . Read more >>

Montanans across the state are welcoming a new Rocky Mountain Front Travel Plan, one which views these incomparable peaks, limestone reefs, and rolling foothills as ideal places to get away from the crowded valleys and off of the busy roads.

The last time a Travel Plan was finalized for Montana's Rocky Mountain Front was in 1988. At a time when Montana was just beginning to see fast-paced growth in many ciites and towns, the 1988 plan actually encouraged more off-road traffic in one of America's wildest unprotected landscapes. That plan has resulted in a tumult of engines and a web of new roads in a number of wild areas, including public ground sacred to the Blackfeet Tribe in the Badger-Two Medicine area.

On October 1st, 2007, the Lewis & Clark National Forest finally put that old plan to rest when they unveiled a new and improved plan that restores good management on the Front. While the new plan is far from perfect, it views the Front as one of the last best places for hikers and horsemen, and also offers common sense motorized access along existing roads.

Every National Forest in the nation is managed according to two different management plans: a Forest Plan for the management of resources (minerals, timber) and a Travel Plan for the management of recreation (horses, off-road vehicles). The new Travel Plan for the Front, which will be in place for the next 15 to 20 years, required more than five years to complete.

In the summer of 2005, the Lewis and Clark National Forest requested public comment on five draft alternatives for a new Travel Plan on the Rocky Mountain Front. Citizens across the country responded in droves. Over 37,000 comments were received, and over 97% of those comments asked for a decrease in loud motors on the Front. Among those comments just from Montanans (2100), 75% asked for the Rocky Mountain Front to be managed as a quiet place to get away from every day life, a place with less noise and fewer off-road vehicles.

Lewis and Clark Forest Supervisor Spike Thompson has described these public comments in the following manner:

“One recurring theme of public comment was the value people placed on the wild, remote setting offered by the front country of the Rocky Mountain Ranger District. Many commenters emphasized the diversity of wildlife species, the presence of the grizzly bear and wolf, and asked that my decision help maintain the undeveloped character of the Rocky Mountain Front.”

It is good see that the Lewis and Clark National Forest has listened to Montanans, and taken one more step toward keeping the Front the way it is now, forever.

For more information please download the Frequently Asked Questions document produced by the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front, or read The Coalition’s Travel Plan press release from October 2, 2007.