September, 2005

BSA AND FORB APPEAL ROUTT WINTER RECREATION MANAGEMENT DECISION

By Rocky Smith, BSA Board Member

In late August, the Backcountry Snowsports Alliance and its Steamboat Springs-based affiliate, Friends of the Routt Backcountry, appealed the Forest Service’s approval of Winter Recreation Management for the Rabbit Ears Pass and Buffalo Pass areas of the Routt National Forest.

Both areas have very high winter recreational use, especially on weekends and holidays. Conflicts between motorized and non-motorized users have greatly increased in the last 10 years. Voluntary restrictions on motorized use have failed to ensure sufficient areas for non-motorized use.

The Routt National Forest began the process of developing official management for the areas in question in January, 2004. A draft plan and environmental assessment were completed in June 2004. The proposed management plan was inadequate from the non-motorized perspective, as it failed to provide sufficient non-motorized territory, especially on Buffalo Pass, where motorized use was excluded from just a small area. In doing so, the plan failed to address conflicts between motorized and non-motorized users, as required by federal regulations. This is the basis for the appeal.

The area north of the Buffalo Pass Road is used by a commercial snowcat operation. This permittee “builds” snow roads each year for access by its skiing clients. Unfortunately, many snowmobiles, some towing skiers or snowboarders, also use these routes, resulting in the quick track-out of powder after snowfalls. Also, the omni-presence of motor vehicles greatly degrades the quality of the recreational experience for skiers, snowboarders, and snowshoers due to the noise and fumes which emanate from the machines.

A sensible option would be to prohibit, except for the snowcat permittee, all motorized use north of the Buffalo Pass Road for some distance (say 5 miles—a distance most snowmobiles can cover in less than 20 minutes) from the Dry Lake Parking lot. This would: be easily enforceable, preserve powder, and provide a quality experience for public non-motorized users and private snow cat clients. Instead, the Forest Service proposed to allow public snowmobile use on the snowcat routes. It seems unlikely that the Forest Service will be able to enforce this use, and the unacceptable situation would continue.

In addition, the plan for Rabbit Ears Pass is unacceptable. Skiers and other non-motorized users have very few of the quality powder areas they once had. Even the approved boundary between motorized and non-motorized is not easily definable on the ground, and thus will not be easily enforceable.

In June of this year, the agency issued a final decision. Very disappointingly, the decision not only retains the bad features of the draft plan, it actually allows motorized use on even more territory, including an area close to the ski area that is popular with backcountry skiers known as “The Toutes”.

Thus BSA and FORB have appealed the decision to the Regional Forester. We have pointed out the legal and social shortcomings of the decision and out ask that it be rescinded and replaced with a plan that is much more equitable. The Forest Service has 45 days from the end of the appeal period (August 31) to issue a decision on the appeal.