Tree damage forces change

Snowmobile damage to young trees in timber plantations is a major factor in trail changes on Inland Empire Paper Company lands around Mount Spokane.

”(Paper company officials) had a summit meeting with the Winter Knights snowmobile club, the nordic ski club and state parks in February to start working this out,” said Paul Buckland, IEP forest operations manager.

The company had three main concerns, he said:

•Keeping skiers and snowmobilers separated for safety and liability reasons.

•Maintaining the same mileage of snowmobile trails in the area, roughly 80 miles.

•Reducing the damage snowmobiles have been doing to commercial trees.

“We really need to move snowmobilers away from our young tree plantations, such as Moose Meadows, because damage to our young trees has been a chronic problem since Day 1,” Buckland said.

Off-trail snowmobile travel can break the tops on young trees that extend just under or above the surface of the snow, he said.

“They’re supposed to keep their machines on the trails, but they don’t. You can go up there right now and see trees with broken or forked tops. There’s some serious growth reduction in those plantations.”

The Winter Knights have offered to help IEP and state park rangers patrol the area this winter, Buckland said.

Snowmobilers with Washington Sno-Park stickers who stage from a Sno-Park vehicle lot can access trails on IEP land at no additional charge, he said, adding that “snowmobilers who find their way up from Thompson Creek, Brickle Creek and Fish Creek in Idaho will have to purchase our access passes.”