Hunting access not an issue for scapegoating

If sportsmen were given the choice of either amputating a leg or getting cut off from a favorite hunting area, the decision would not be easy.

In some regions, there’d be a run on prostheses.

Access is a hot-button word these days among people who hunt and fish on public and private forest lands, and especially among those who expect to reach their destinations in motor vehicles.

Compelling arguments underlie the effort to keep motor vehicles out of areas that currently are roadless.

But just as important are decisions being made to rein in motorized access from areas where roads already exist.

The issue is hitting home in many areas this month. For example, a public meeting on road management is set for next Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at the Idaho Panhandle National Forest headquarters in Coeur d’Alene.

Archery elk hunters scouting traditional hunting areas in the Coeur d’Alene National Forest this month were shocked to see a few of their favorite access roads posted, “Closed to motorized vehicles.”

I heard from some whose first instinct was to blame “radical environmental groups.”

Maybe that’s the way to play the opposition propaganda if you’re interest is purely in riding four-wheelers and dirt bikes.

Hunters, however, need to study the issue further or risk, ah, cutting off their own foot.

The trend toward closing some forest roads is fuelled by several factors. For example:

Cost: The Idaho Panhandle National Forests have far more roads than they can afford to maintain.

Sedimentation: Unmaintained forest roads are prone to washouts that sweep dirt into streams, such as the Coeur d’Alene River, and damage important fisheries.

Species protection: Threatened and endangered species protection rules require some limits on roads in some areas, as well as protecting native plans from invasive weeds.

Abuse: This isn’t just a public land issue. Private timber companies also are struggling to protect their lands from increasing damage associated with motor vehicles, including litter.

Big-game management: Unregulated road systems and healthy big-game populations don’t mix.

Hunters in particular need to look at this issue closely, even if they do much of their hunting from the seat of a motorized vehicle.

Using the Coeur d’Alene area as an example, few national forests offer more roads for public access. The Coeur d’Alene District averages 11 miles of road per section, the highest road densities of any national forest.

The elk and deer hunting in the Coeur d’Alene drainage can be excellent. But as more and more people gear up with four-wheel drives, ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles, hunting seasons already are being eroded.

Elk, in particular, are discouraged from using habitat near roads. Of course, I’ve seen elk near roads. But the science clearly shows that roads decrease the carrying capacity and reduce the value of habitat as effectively as if you pave acres of the land extending beyond the roads.

“When you add up all the factors, one mile of road density per section reduces the habitat potential for elk by 40 percent, depending on how much those roads are used,” said Dave Leptich, Idaho Fish and Game Department habitat specialist.

Researchers have found that no more than a half-mile to a mile of road can be allowed per section of land in order to maintain 60-75 percent of the habitat’s effectiveness for elk, he said.

Human access contributes to the impacts of roads.

“A two-year study on the Coeur d’Alene River District using radio-collared elk found that 62 percent of the bulls in roaded areas were killed while 32 percent were killed in the unroaded areas,” he said. “This shows how we can keep longer seasons and healthier bull-to-cow ratios just by managing access.”

In addition, the study found that nearly no bull elk live longer than 4 years in heavily roaded areas.

“But by closing some roads, the age structure for elk stretches to 7.5 years old,” he said. “And you can get the full spread to 10 years in areas with no roads.”

“The Panhandle has some of the most liberal elk hunting seasons in the West because of the tough, dense terrain,” he said. The season lengths, however, have begun to erode as the department takes measures to offset access and habitat loss.

“We’ve lost more than 10 days off the cow season over the years and cut days off the bull hunting during the rut, but we could have made the difference by reducing access,” Leptich said.

Roads not only allow easier access for hunters during seasons, but they also offer easy access for poachers when the seasons are closed, he noted.

Taking a close look at our road and trail systems is essential for getting the maximum benefit out of limited wildlife habitat, he said.

“I’m not talking about creating wilderness areas,” he said. “I’m talking about reducing the density of roads or trails from 4.5 miles per square mile down to .7 miles. That’s still a lot of access.”