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A year ago the Lolo National Forest
Supervisor, Chuck Wildes, ordered the closure of some
400,000 acres of the Lolo National Forest, especially
the Great Burn and other Statelier area roadless areas,
to snowmobiling and ORV use.
Wildes acted to uphold the standards plainly
stated in the 1986 Forest Plan that closed roadless
areas in two management areas, MA 11 and 12, to
motorized use.
The travel maps for the Lolo mistakenly indicated
that many of these areas were open for at least
snowmobile use.
Following the Wildes
closure notice, the snowmobilers and the Blue
Ribbon Coalition sued the Lolo to force the areas to be
reopened at least until site specific NEPA could be
done. Sierra Club, together with Montana Wilderness Association and
Friends of the Bitterroot, intervened on the side of the
Forest Service to argue the validity of the closure
order.
In a ground-breaking decision,
Judge Malloy of the Missoula Federal District Court
upheld the Lolo closure.
Importantly, the judge ruled that 1) forest plan
provisions closing areas to ORV use are final at the
conclusion of the forest planning process, 2) that the
closure did n’t require more NEPA because it simply
enforced the terms of the Plan
and 3) that mistakes in the travel maps did not
create any rights or privileges in ORV users when
the Forest Plan specifically closes the area to
motorized access. Our success in this suit underscores the importance of
active involvement in the forest planning
process. The
Lolo will be revising its forest plan beginning this
fall. Sierra
Club will continue to work for protection of these
roadless lands, but we will need your help.
Stay tuned for how you can help. (Len Broberg,
Missoula)
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