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Montana High Divide Trails
Working Together
Highlands Cycling Club * Mile-High Back Country Horsemen Helena Bicycle Club * Wild Divide Chapter-Montana Wilderness Association Last Chance Back Country Horsemen * Prickly Pear Land Trust Helena Trail Riders * Great Divide Cycling Team * Helena Outdoor Club THANKS TO YOU - AWESOME VOLUNTEERS! You showed up to build new trail and turnpike, repair and improve drainage, install a new trail kiosk and post CDT signs on new hand-crafted trail. You helped craft and ground-truth a forward-looking collaborative travel and Continental Divide Trail plan for the Lincoln Ranger District. To celebrate another successful year of working together -Montana High Divide Trails and Continental Divide Trail Alliance will co-host events in Butte and Helena next week, November 10 and 11th. Don’t miss the Party ! THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10th in BUTTE - Butte-Silver Bow Archives Building – 6-9pm 17 West Quartz St. – Butte, MT 59701 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th in HELENA -- Caretaker’s Cabin (in Reader’s Alley) – 6-9pm 212 S Park Avenue – Helena, MT 59601 Please be sure to RSVP shannon@cdtrail.org or 406.781.0627 by Nov 7. THANK YOU! DIVIDE TRAVEL PLAN TO BE RELEASED The Helena Ranger District is expected to release the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the (Continental) Divide Travel Plan soon. Montana High Divide Trails hopes to see positive changes to heal OHV-damaged wild lands in the Little Blackfoot and Sweeney Creek roadless areas as well as ensure an additional 13.5 miles of Continental Divide National Scenic Trail are managed for quiet recreation and natural values. Hunters are increasingly concerned about plans to suspend or amend elk security standards that limit road and motor-trail densities. BLACKFOOT TRAVEL ALTERNATIVE The headwaters of the Big Blackfoot River arise along the Continental Divide on the Helena National Forest. The Blackfoot Travel Plan underway on the Lincoln Ranger District will set the future of an arc of Blackfoot headwaters, from the serene Nevada Mountain proposed Wilderness north to majestic Red Mountain (9411’) partially within the Scapegoat Wilderness. The Blackfoot Travel Plan will complete summer/fall travel determining: Non-motorized Areas and Trails Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Motorized Areas Roads and Trails Treatment of excess, illegal and damaging roads, ruts and tracks On July 18, Montana High Divide Trails, Helena Hunters and Anglers and Public Lands Access Association presented a conservation alternative for the Blackfoot Travel Plan covering most of the Lincoln Ranger District. “Alternative C” conserves wild lands and quiet trails along the Continental Divide and headwaters of the legendary Big Blackfoot River. The new alternative differs from the original proposed action in designating the entire Continental Divide National Scenic Trails for quiet recreational uses. Wild lands surrounding the trail would be classed as nonmotorized areas in order to fully conserve the natural cultural and historic values of the CDNST corridor. Alt C would link and restore non-motorized trails such as Gould Helmville, as recommended in the 2009 IMBA Trails Solutions Report on Mountain Biking Potential in the Lincoln Area. Scapegoat wilderness portal trails would be managed for foot and stock travel, as recommended by Last Chance and Charlie Russell Back Country Horsemen. GET LOST ! An easy place to get lost in Montana is Lost Creek Canyon, north of Anaconda in the Flint Creek Range, where forest trails have fallen into disrepair. Now --thanks to Jenni Blake – Wilderness Recreation and Trails Manager for the Pintler Ranger District—trails in Lost Creek, has been nominated for Capital Investment Project funding in FY 2013. Lost Creek Canyon — part of the Montana High Divide Trails agreement is a forest plan non-motorized area proposed for permanent backcountry designation under Senator Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (S 270) awaiting passage in the U S Senate. Restoring Lost Creek trails will benefit the community of Anaconda by providing a very scenic 14 mile loop trail for hikers, mountain bikers, runners and stock users. Montana High Divide Trails strongly supports this much-needed trail improvement project and will encourage the forest and region to ensure it is funded. |