Trails and Traffic Discussed and Stewardship Project Endorsed

Seeley Lake Community Council

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council (SLCC) hosted discussion on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) trails maintenance and provided an update on its traffic study at its June 13 meeting. The council also endorsed the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP).

Seeley Lake District Ranger Rachel Feigley gave an overview of the trails on the district. There are 126 miles of trail in the Scapegoat Wilderness, 263 miles of hiking and horse trails outside the wilderness and 312 miles of snowmobile trails.

Feigley explained that there are a couple of main reasons why the trails budget has been cut in recent years.

There is one pot of money for all the programs the USFS administers including trails, recreation, timber management, fire suppression and others. Those programs are all funded at the start of the year but if there are catastrophic fires, the fire budget runs out of money.

There is nowhere to get more money since it all comes out of one pot, so the money is “borrowed” from all the other programs. Catastrophic fires are becoming more frequent and therefore programs like the trails maintenance keep getting cut.

In recent years, fire suppression has been reaching 50 percent of the budget and is projected to go even higher.

Locally, Feigley said districts are attempting to spend their trails money early in the season to lesson the chance of the budget being “borrowed” by fire. She also said she has made the fire crew more available to do work for trails and recreation projects. She cited one recent example. The fire crew was used to cut several dozen snags out of Big Larch Campground for training.

The solution on a national level will have to come from legislative action in Washington DC.

Another issue comes from a recent change in how the USFS allocates its trails funds. The funds were reallocated based on visitor use monitoring data that favored more populous urban areas. The reallocation also didn’t account for winter trails making it a two-sided sword that has left areas like the Seeley Lake Ranger District short on funds.

At the local level, Feigley said she would like to see the community come together and create a vision for trails in the area. This would help the USFS set priorities for what trails to maintain first. She has found that there are many groups in the area that don’t all agree, making her job more difficult.

It was discussed that more local groups could take up some of the summer trail maintenance. Currently the Seeley Lake Nordic Club takes care of the ski trails and the Seeley Lake Driftriders maintain the snowmobile trails.

Councilman Duane Schlabach updated the council on the traffic safety project. Schlabach and Klaus von Stutterheim attended the May 26 Montana Transportation Commission meeting. The commission tabled the decision till its July meeting.

From the meeting Schlabach and von Stutterheim got the feeling that the council might have to compromise in order to get any of the proposed improvements.

The council voted to give Schlabach and von Stutterheim the latitude to negotiate with the commission if needed. The next Transportation Commission meeting is July 28 in Helena, Mont.

In other business, representatives of the BCSP requested that the council write a letter of support for the project.

The project is a decade long collaborative effort that has recreation, conservation and economic components. It would add 83,000 acres to wilderness areas on either side of the valley while opening up 2000 acres for snowmobiling. The project has already started restoration work and champions a sustainable timber economy.

The council approved writing a letter of endorsement for the BCSP.

The next SLCC meeting is scheduled for July 11, 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Historical Museum & Visitors Center. Snacks and beverages will be provided starting at 5:30 p.m.

 

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