Help keep the Front the way it is now! Increasingly, important habitat along the Rocky Mountain Front is under pressure from the subdivision of private land for residential development. Conservation easements have proven to be a valuable tool for protecting wildlife and a traditional way of life by leaving land in private ownership. However, in order to capitalize on the gains already made, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in need of renewed funding to purchase additional conservation easements in the coming years. >>
Travel Plan for the Rocky Mountain Front Released!The Coalition applauded the Forest Service for its plan that protects wildlife while emphasizing traditional uses on the Front. On October 1st, the Lewis and Clark released a final Travel Plan for the lower two-thirds of the Rocky Mountain Front covering roughly 390,000 acres, excluding the Badger-Two Medicine area. The Plan will guide all travel, recreation, and other uses on the Front for the next two decades, specifying routes for hikers and horseback riders, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles (ORVs) ...
Issues > Threat: Motorized Use
Motorized recreation has roared onto the West’s public lands during the past decade, and federal land managers are struggling to manage the increasing numbers of off-road enthusiasts. On October 1st, 2007, the Lewis and Clark National Forest released its Travel Plan for the Front. The Forest Service chose a combination of alternatives in their final Environmental Impact Statement.
After an initial review of the proposed final plan, the Coalition believes that the Forest Service has adopted a plan which balances opportunities for hunting and packing; continues an emphasis on traditional recreation; protects private land from illegal trespass; and checks the spread of noxious weeds.
Motorized recreation can disturb wildlife and other forest visitors and unmanaged "spur" trails fragment habitat. Off-road vehicles can disperse noxious weeds and their rutted tracks can shed sediments into streams.
