Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:56:33 -0600
To: Montana-Roadless@vortex.wildrockies.org
From: Matthew Koehler <koehler@wildrockies.org>
Subject: Forest Service to restore snowmobile trail
Sender: <Montana-Roadless@vortex.wildrockies.org>

Forest Service to restore snowmobile trail
Wednesday, October 25 2006
by John Q. Murray
Clark Fork Chronicle

After conducting a site visit with the Montana Nightriders Snowmobile Club last Thursday, representatives from the Superior Ranger District agreed to restore a West End snowmobile trail.

Rex Lincoln, Don Wells, and Mark Sverdsten accompanied the Forest Service representatives Sharon Sweeney, Carole Johnson, and Beth Kennedy to the site just north of Saltese Oct. 19.

"It turned out to be a real good meeting all around," Sharon said.

A 1,300-foot road obliteration was part of a decision memo signed by then-Ranger Rob Harper on June 19, 2003.

The goal of the West Fork Packer Access Travel Plan Revision, Sharon explained, was to close the tower access road to summer vehicle traffic but keep it open for the snowmobile trail groomer in the winter.

The groomer is 10 feet wide, wider than a pickup truck.

Surveying the logs and small slopes as they walked about 600 feet of the obliteration, Mark, the groomer operator, explained that the groomer can't wait for five feet of snow, but needs to operate as soon as the snowmobiles can run. The road in its current condition was impassable to the groomer, he said.

"It was educational for us to listen to Mark," said Sharon. "He explained what amount of slash could be on the road, and what amount of side slope the groomer could go across."

The district will now undo the obliteration, and try to get it done before the snow flies, Sharon said.

"We'll bring an excavator up there and remove much of the debris and smooth it out so that it will be passable for the groomer," she said.

The district will likely look at trying to achieve its goal with different gate designs. The existing gates in that area have been vandalized, Sharon noted.

"I've seen several gates throughout the district where people wrap a chain around them and try to pull them out. Or the lock's been cut or the chain's been cut--we'll have to come up with something different," she said.

The Chronicle was inside the Montana Bar in Saltese well before 2:30 p.m., but somehow missed the rendezvous for the site visit. So we did not get pictures of the road obliteration, but we did get some good coffee, lost some money on shake-a-day, and learned the basics of two other dice games.

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