Last Ride On Divide Snowmobilers Protest Bitterroot Closure

The last chance to snowmobile legally in the Great Burn on the Bitterroot Divide drew hundreds of snowmobilers here Saturday, where they protested the closure of one of their favorite playgrounds.

Before winding their way up the Trout Creek Road to snowmobile trails, riders stopped at the site of a closed sawmill to rally against the closure.

The Lolo National Forest on Monday will close the 94,000-acre Great Burn area, plus some other proposed roadless areas on the Montana side of the divide, to snowmobilers, in keeping with the agency’s forest plan.

As about 400 protesters listened to speakers and sipped hot chocolate and coffee, purchased with donations to raise money for a lawsuit challenging the closure.

The Forest Service said it was pressured to close the area because of the threat of a lawsuit from the Montana Wilderness Association.

The loss of the snowmobile grounds means an economic loss for this small Montana town, still smarting from the closure of the sawmill where the rally was staged.

“We figure we’ll lose $300,000 to $500,000 a year in annual income, just from the snowmobilers alone,” said Mike Burns of the Superior Area Chamber of Commerce, which organized the rally with the Montana Snowmobile Association.

“It’s one more nail in our coffin,” said his wife, Michelle Burns.

Snowmobile use in the area has skyrocketed in the last few years. Before 1995, about 10 snowmobiles would visit the Hoodoo Pass area each weekend. Since then, the numbers jumped to about 100 snowmobiles each weekend, said Ken Britton of the Lolo National Forest.

“It was being discovered. That’s what brought it to our attention,” Britton said. About 1,500 snowmobilers now visit the area annually.

Many of them showed up on Saturday. After the rally, more than 100 pickups with snowmobile trailers lined Trout Creek Road near the trailheads.

The Forest Service issued rally organizers a special-use permit to groom the snow-covered road all the way to Hoodoo Pass. Organizers also marked safe trails into popular areas because of high avalanche danger.

Thor Dahstrom, a 26-year-old rider from Hoquiam, Wash., was killed in an avalanche Thursday while out snowmobiling near Missoula Lake, north of Hoodoo Pass. Mineral County Search and Rescue workers were unable to retrieve his body Thursday, so the family hired a helicopter to recover it Friday.

A search and rescue team and avalanche dogs were at the trailhead in the event of another accident Saturday, and organizers cautioned all riders at the rally.

“Hopefully all these people listened and are being careful,” said Scott Burnham of the county rescue team.

Many of the riders were heading to Heart Lake and Pearl Lake basins. After the closure those areas will be off-limits, but snowmobilers can still access the Idaho side of the divide and ride along the ridge, Britton said.

Many snowmobilers argue that the proposed Great Burn wilderness area may never be approved by Congress as wilderness. As for wildlife, they move to lower elevations in the winter, they said.

That’s true for the most part, Britton said. Female wolverines, however, den in high mountain cirques and are highly sensitive to disturbance, he said.

Despite their differences, the protesters welcomed the two uniformed Forest Service officials in their midst.

“Hey, Mr. Britton,” one called from his pickup. “I was waiting for you to take the stage.”

“I don’t have my guitar,” Britton joked.

“It was nice of you to come anyway,” the snowmobiler said.

Britton said the Forest Service will try to enforce the closure. “We don’t have the budget to patrol every minute,” he said. “But we trust these people.”