WSAs Current update:
Mountain bikers and motorized users are appealing Judge Christensen's decision.
We still wait for a final decision from Forest Supervisor Matt Anderson on the comment period mandated by Christensen.
Mountain Bike use destroys Wilderness Characteristics
"No mechanized travel of any sort"
KEEP WSAs WILD
So they can one day be Wilderness
Study after study show bikes are harmful to wildlife. With so few wild areas left, we need to act now. The new Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor, Matt Anderson, will soon be deciding to uphold the current Travel Plan or to amend it and let bikes in these sensitive areas. His decision will set a major precedent for WSAs. We must let him know these last remaining wild lands need to be free of mountain bikes.
We are still waiting for a decision.
You can still e-mail Matt Anderson
Please email a short letter to Forest Supervisor Matt Anderson. Your letter need not be long, it just needs to be sincere to let him know you care about wild places. Use the talking points below to help. While these points are important, its most important to use your own words and let him know how important wild places and the plant and animals who live there are to you. The more personal the better.
- Support the current Travel Plan excluding motorized use and mechanized use from the Sapphire and Blue Joint WSAs.
- There’s no shortage of opportunities on the forest for bikers to ride. Please don’t open up these sensitive areas when other places exist for this type of recreation.
- These WSAs are important wildlife sanctuaries and corridors. With so little wild areas left, we need more protection not less.
- There are many mountain bikers who support not riding in these areas and gladly ride in other places.
- Future generations will be thankful we fully protected these areas. We need places where the WILD truly exists without motors and bikes.
We can save these WSAs; but we’ve got to act now. We need to speak for the animals and plants who call these areas home. Decision makers are use to generic form letters so personal letters written in your own words are best. A good old-fashion paper letter is very powerful. Also, call and leave him a short message. Let’s let Supervisor Anderson know we honestly care about these places and encourage him to make the right decision for wild lands.
Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
CONTACT
Supervisor Matt Anderson
matthew.anderson3@usda.gov
Bitterroot National Forest
1801 North 1st
Hamilton, MT 59828
406-363-7100
Background
The 1977 Montana Wilderness Study Act (sponsored by the Bitterroot’s own Lee Metcalf) required the Forest Service to maintain "their presently existing wilderness character and potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System". The Ninth Circuit Court has ruled this requires the FS to maintain a study area's 1977 wilderness character, including opportunities for solitude comparable to those in existence in 1977.
We thank former Forest Supervisor Julie King for taking needed steps to protect our WSAs. As she wrote in the 2016 Bitterroot NF Travel Plan's Record of Decision, “I feel we have an obligation to manage WSAs for those social and ecological characteristics to preserve wilderness character. These actions assure that Congress’ intent for these areas will be honored while preserving their potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.”
Mountain bikers teamed with motorized users and sued the Bitterroot National Forest (BNF) to overturn the BNF Travel Plan's closure of approximately 121 miles of trail in the Sapphire and Blue Joint Wilderness Study Areas to motorized and mechanized (bicycle) travel.
Recently, the Federal District Court agreed with the BNF decision, stating “the Court defers to the Forest Service's rationale that the social impacts, including the feeling of being in an undeveloped setting, are sufficient to support its decision to close RWAs and WSAs to bicycle transport”. The court found the change in percentage of trails listed as closed to mechanized travel between the DEIS and the final decision (9% of 1,222 miles available previously on the Bitterroot, later corrected to near 10%) to be “a minor variation…no supplemental EIS was required”. However, he noted the closure of trails to mountain bikes in the WSAs came late in the process. The judge did not overturn the decision about mechanized travel but did ask the BNF to provide another comment period specifically relating to mountain bike use in the WSAs.
The Blue Joint and Sapphire WSAs are home to elk, wolverine, bull trout, deer, mountain goats, golden eagle, pika, and species which need large undisturbed landscapes. They protect our clean water and outstanding fisheries. They represent some of the last remaining wild places in the lower 48 and serve as valuable corridor/linkage routes for wildlife and flora. They are rare wild areas where natural processes still dominate, and humans can find solitude and untrammeled beauty.