New West Feature

Conservationists Deplore Bombing of Avalanche Runs at Yellowstone

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, backed by several other conservation groups, has strongly criticized Yellowstone National Park’s winter use plan to keep Sylvan Pass open between Cody and the park’s east entrance.

The pass features 20 avalanche runs that must be knocked down by artillery shells fired from a 105 mm howitzer, at a cost of $325,000 per season. Weather permitting, high explosives are hand-dropped on the avalanche runs from a helicopter.

Idaho Fish and Game Feature

Hate Those Junk Fish

Lake Lowell in southwestern Idaho has been much in the news lately. The state government is fighting a federal proposal to limit longtime recreational uses on the huge reservoir, which was built for irrigation in the early 1900s.

Federal officials want to restrict water sports to about a third of the lake and ban dogs and horses, to protect wildlife in the Deer Park National Wildlife Refuge, which incorporates the lake. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter insists the state should manage the wildlife. Amidst this debate, Idaho Fish and Game announced this week it was considering how to reduce a carp infestation that has disrupted the reservoir’s aquatic systems.

Fishing & Hunting

How Much Should Hunters With ATVs Be Regulated?

The hunters stalked their game for hours, carefully taking note of scat and tracks the herd left behind. They hunted on foot through the West’s backcountry wilds, through brush and over mountains. A rumble in the distance sounded like the characteristic clap of a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. It spooked the elk. Over the hill emerged a firearm-clad off-road vehicle rider.

Many hunters contend they should be protected from noisy, ungulate-frightening machines when out seeking their prey. And in numerous states they are, with rules keeping hunters on ATVs tied to major roadways instead of backcountry paths. But ATV advocates want those restrictions changed, and across the West lawmakers continue to propose bills favoring motorized uses for hunting.

In Idaho, the issue is coming to a head, where a back-and-forth on whether hunters can use ATVs to access wilderness is under way.

Trail Work

Helping Out the Bob: Volunteering in Montana’s Largest Wilderness Complex

Pull, don’t push! When you’re working in the Bob Marshall Wilderness with a crosscut saw, this is the rule.

For five days in July, “Pull, don’t push!” became my mantra. Without the whine of the chainsaw or the stench of two-cycle engines to burn your nostrils, it is the sing of the blade, powered by two people, that makes trail crew work possible in Montana’s largest wilderness complex that said no to roads, vehicles and motorized anything in the late 1960s, largely thanks to one man, Robert Marshall.

Six of my friends and I signed up with the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation (BMWF) for one of their many volunteer trail crew projects. Our goal was to free a section of downed telephone line on the Historic Phone Line along the South Fork of the Flathead River in the 1.5 million acre complex. For 15 years the BMWF has placed volunteers deep within one of the country’s largest and most remote wildernesses to help maintain and preserve the many trails, cabins and artifacts that encompass a place affectionately referred to as “the Bob.”

Guest Column

The Case for Making ATV and Other Outdoor Recreation Vehicle Riders Accountable

Idaho is a sportsman’s paradise and a huge draw for outdoor recreation, including ORVs, or Outdoor Recreation Vehicles. More and more ORV riders are taking to the trails of Idaho’s popular destinations.

My concern is the disregard that a growing number of ORV riders have for rules and posted signs. Unfortunately, their irresponsible riding has led to a dramatic deterioration in the quality of the outdoor experience on both private and public forest lands.

Two years ago, I took along my 11-year-old son on an opening-day hunt on “Access Yes” forestland in Idaho’s panhandle. These lands were owned by a timber company that allowed public access, but restricted motorized use to mainline roads. After hiking three hours up a road closed to motorized use, we encountered two riders on ATVs. My son was discouraged after the long hike and I was upset, knowing his first hunt was cut short.

Kayaking

Kayaking Dillon Reservoir: A Natural Perspective

Kayaking around Dillon Reservoir, people tend to notice things that they might not in a motorboat.

That was the idea behind Kyle McKenzie’s business, Kayak Lake Dillon, a sea-kayaking outfit that offers lessons and tours of the lake in Colorado. This will be the business’s second year of operation in Summit County.

They wanted to keep things on the down-low last year, but now they’re ready to spread the word. Anyone with a Summit County ID will be offered drastic discounts — and when we say drastic, we mean the most drastic kind.

“You get a very different perspective of the lake and the area from a kayak, not on a loud motorboat. Especially in the morning, it’s always really calm and quiet, a really relaxing trip,” said McKenzie, who is also the lead guide.

Mountain Biking

New Trail and Brewery-Sponsored Races Raise Mountain Biking Profile in Missoula

A new trail in Missoula, Montana, at the old Marshall Mountain ski area has riders talking. Here’s a sample of how they describe it: “Technical, but twisty and flowy.” “Really steep, loose, technical with hairpin turns into the steepest stuff I’ve ever ridden.”

The trail is the venue for a series of weekly mountain bike races that started last Wednesday. The plan for the Kettle House Weekday Race League is to start out with five Wednesday night races, culminating in a weekend race at the end of July. The weekend race will be the final in the US National Pro XC Mountain Bike tour. However, race organizers are hoping the series will be more than a lead-up to the national championship—they want to get mountain bikers from every walk of life out on the trails to ride, race and drink a beer.

The league is designed to be all-local and all-inclusive. “The main message I want to get out is that the races are for everyone,” says Shaun Radley, race director. “A lot of my time has been spent on getting the entertainment down for the race. I want to inspire people to come back and race again and again.”

National Park News

Some Numbers to Keep in Mind When Reviewing Yellowstone National Park’s Winter-Use Plan

For more than a decade the debate over how winter in Yellowstone National Park should be enjoyed has dragged on.

The National Park Service has gone back and forth with the political winds, calling back in 2000 for recreational snowmobile use to be phased out completely only to see the Bush administration drop that decision in favor of continued snowmobile use.

Legal battles waged by those who want continued snowmobile use and those who believe Yellowstone would be healthier without snowmobiles have prolonged the debate and led to a fistful of environmental studies—environmental assessments as well as more complex and detailed environmental impact statements.

The latest comment period on the park’s proposal for winter-use comes to an end next month. Encompassing nearly 550 pages, this Draft Environmental Impact Statement on winter-use is a massive, complex document, one that challenges the lay person as well as the studied expert to be conversant on all its nuances.

Along with technically exploring how best to move about the snowbound park, examining the impacts of snowmobiles and snowcoaches as well as looking at whether plowing of roads for wheeled traffic would be feasible, the study raises questions about the role of national parks, how best to conserve and preserve their resources and how society views the parks.

Here are some numbers to keep in mind when studying this issue.

High Country News Feature

Lead Bullets Find a Champion in Tester

Last January, three endangered California condors were found dead in Arizona. The cause of death: lead poisoning. After eating carrion riddled with spent lead ammunition, the birds’ digestive systems likely shut down, starving them to death. Since condor reintroduction began in Arizona in 1996, 15 have died of lead poisoning; in California, 18 condors have bit the bullet. After 25 years spent trying to recover the condor from near-extinction, the birds remain imperiled by lead in their scavenged prey. Despite growing concerns about health effects on both humans and wildlife, however, lead ammunition still flies widely unregulated across the West.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT, wants to keep it that way. With a bill introduced last month, Tester hopes to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to permanently exempt lead bullets, shot and fishing tackle from regulation.