West Pioneers Wilderness Study Area Protected
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 23, 2009
CONTACT:
Bethanie Walder, Wildlands CPR
(406) 543-9551
John Grove
Friends of the Bitterroot
Phone: (406) 777-2423
FOREST SERVICE AGREES TO END CONTROVERSIAL SNOWMOBILE GROOMING PROGRAM
Conservation Groups Settle Lawsuit: Agreement Protects Core Wolverine Habitat and Nearly 148,000 Acres in West Pioneer Wilderness Study Area
MISSOULA, MT¬The West Pioneer Wilderness Study Area in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest will be quieter this winter as a result of a settlement agreement approved by the Court today. The agreement reached between two conservation groups and the U.S. Forest Service closes nearly 95 miles of trails to snowmobile grooming in the wilderness study area, which will protect wolverine and other important wildlife species and help preserve the wilderness character of the area.
In the settlement agreement U.S. Forest Service officials agreed to prohibit snowmobile grooming in the northern half of the wilderness study area immediately to protect denning habitat for wolverine and phase-out all snowmobile grooming in the roughly 148,000 acre wilderness study area after this winter season. The Service will also monitor and study the impacts of snowmobile use in the area before making a future decision to reauthorize the activity.
“We applaud the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest for agreeing to preserve the area’s wilderness character while it studies the issue” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center who represented the groups.
Wildlands CPR and Hamilton-based Friends of the Bitterroot were co-plaintiffs in the case, which stemmed from a 2008 Forest Service decision to authorize snowmobile grooming in core wolverine habitat within the wilderness study area without any public review and comment and without ensuring the wilderness character of the area is maintained as required by the Montana Wilderness Study Act.
“When congress passed the Montana Wilderness Study Act, no trail grooming occurred in the West Pioneers,” says Adam Rissien, Montana Off-Road Vehicle Coordinator at Wildlands CPR, but “By 2003, there were 36 miles, and in 2008 that number increased to nearly 95. That’s a 62% increase in five years. With this settlement we begin the task of returning snowmobile use to 1977 levels.”
While the settlement agreement does not prohibit snowmobiling, it ends trail grooming within the protected area.
“Ever since our late Senator Lee Metcalf fought to protect this area in the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1976, we’ve fought to preserve the existing wilderness character of these few remaining wild places,” says John Grove, a Board Member of Friends of the Bitterroot and retired USFS Ranger. “Today that struggle brought us a great victory."
Wildlands CPR is a Missoula-based non-profit organization that works to revive and protect wild places by promoting watershed restoration that improves fish and wildlife habitat, provides clean water and enhances community economies. Friends of the Bitterroot seeks to ensure the ecological health of our public lands on the Bitterroot and portions of the Salmon, Beaverhead/Deerlodge and Lolo National Forests as well as on state and other public lands in the area.
Both groups were represented in this matter by Matthew Bishop, the director of the Western Environmental Law Center’s Northern Rockies Office in Helena, Montana.
For more information, please visit: www.wildlandscpr.org, www.friendsofthebitterroot.org, and www.westernlaw.org. Click here for the text of the settlement agreement.
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-FACT SHEET-
The West Pioneer Wilderness Study Area includes 148,150 acres including sites like the Skull Odell Research Natural Area, the Pioneer National Recreation Trail, 10 cirque lakes providing vital winter wildlife habitat, and prominent peaks in the Stine, Odell and Bobcat Mountains.
In 1977, Congress passed the Montana Wilderness Study Act through an effort spearhead by the late Montana Senator Lee Metcalf. The act protected the West Pioneers and directed the Forest Service to maintain the area’s wilderness character at levels that existed at the act’s inception.
When congress passed the Act, only seven miles of trail were marked for snowmobile use. By 2003, there were 90 miles. Now, this litigation stops an additional 95 miles¬a 62% increase in five years¬from being added to that list.
Both roads and snowmobile routes disrupt wildlife habitat in the West Pioneers, where sensitive populations of wolverine den to give birth during winter months and mountain goats find refuge on critical winter range. The increase in trail grooming has brought more snowmobiles into the WSA, where a 2005 Forest Service study discovered that 12 wolverines still reside there, a potentially critical amount for a drastically dwindling population. Wolverine remain on the verge of federal listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The forest interior of the Pioneer Mountains is one of the few places in the Northern Rockies that provides secure, primary and maternal habitat for wolverine. In winter, wolverines spend much of their time in the coniferous forests of the mountains. Snowmobile use displaces wolverines and may reduce reproductive success, especially when it occurs within potential wolverine denning habitat. Snowmobiling causes increased energetic expenditures (i.e., movements away from the activity, including relocating dens in response to human presence), reduced genetic intake (exclusion of foraging areas), and lowered juvenile survival.
Female wolverines appear to be most sensitive to human presence during the winter denning period. Six of the seven natal dens located in the Greater Yellowstone Area occurred in areas without motorized use, i.e., designated wilderness or areas inaccessible by snowmobile. At present, USFS considers wolverine inhabiting the Beaverhead’s Pioneer Mountains to play an important role in sustaining and recovering regional wolverine populations.
This victory takes a major step in protecting the area and its value for wintering wildlife from the impacts of snowmobile use.