By Matt Volz
Associated Press
Helena, Mont. - A federal appeals court sided with conservation groups Thursday and rejected a U.S. Forest Service plan regulating the use of snowmobiles, dirt bikes and other vehicles in a wilderness study area north of Yellowstone National Park.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that the Forest Service's 2006 Travel Management Plan was arbitrary and capricious because it did not account for the increased volume of motorized and mechanical use in the protected 155,000-acre study area in the Gallatin National Forest.
The ruling is a victory for three conservation groups that sued the Forest Service over the plan: the Montana Wilderness Association, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Wilderness Society. It comes after court-ordered mediation talks broke down between the Forest Service, the conservation groups and multiple-use advocates earlier this month.
The Gallatin National Forest is home to all the wildlife Yellowstone is known for and it should be managed as critical refuge for those species, such as grizzly bears, lynx and wolverines, said Hannah Stauts of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
"It just reaffirms something that we've known for a long time: that this is a unique and special place that deserves protection," Stauts said.
Congress in 1977 ordered that the Hyalite/Porcupine/Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area's "wilderness character" be maintained at the level that existed at that time for possible inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.
When the Forest Service created its travel plan, it compared the 1977 areas available for motorized and mechanized use to those available in 2006. The final plan called for limiting summer use of motorcycles and mountain bikes to 168 trail miles and snowmobiles to an 11,000-acre area surrounded by a 7,000-acre buffer zone.
But the agency failed to consider the increased number of motorized and mechanized users and the increased popularity of snowmobiles and ATVs since 1977, the court found. Even though there is no reliable data available to account for the increase in volume since 1977, the Forest Service nonetheless has to account for that increase, the court ruled.
The ruling sends the Forest Service back to the drawing board in creating a plan to regulate the use of snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, mountain bikes and motorcycles in the study area, which is also known as the Gallatin Crest.
Officials with the U.S. Forest Service did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday. A spokesman for the Justice Department said the agency is reviewing the ruling to determine the next steps.
Meanwhile, an interim plan has been approved for the third straight winter that limits snowmobile use in the study area to 1,800 acres. A group called Citizens for Balanced Use is challenging that interim plan, as it had challenged the Forest Service's 2006 plan as being too restrictive for motorized users.
Kerry White, a Citizens for Balanced Use board member, said his group will look forward to working with the Forest Service on a new plan. But he said whatever new plan the Forest Service comes up with will also likely face litigation, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The best solution to break the cycle, he said, would be for Congress to remove the Gallatin Crest's 34-year designation as a wilderness study area and open it to multiple users.
"Congress needs to deal with this," White said.
Stauts agreed that the larger question is how to get Congress to make a final decision, but she believes lawmakers will ultimately create long-term protections for the area.
"I think we've been shown time and again that Congress values this place for its wilderness values," she said.
