Idaho mine claim owners sue over access to forests

Several Idaho mining claim owners sued the federal government late last week, the latest front in an effort by groups across the West that want to expand motorized backcountry access using a Civil War-era law. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boise, argues the U.S. Forest Service illegally restricted use of four roads in Idaho County that make up the so-called “Buckhorn Creek Trail System.” The claim is similar to a lawsuit in Utah that was resolved earlier this year when the federal government agreed to open three roads, allowing all-terrain vehicles into that state’s western desert. In the Idaho County case, owners of historic mining claims accessed by roads extending deep into the Nez Perce National Forest are demanding a judge affirm the public’s right to use the roads. They contend Forest Service officials outstripped their authority since at least 2001 by barring people from accessing roads used for more than a century, not only to reach mining claims, but also to hunt, fish, camp and sightsee. “I don’t see this as a part of a movement, other than people are kind of waking up and figuring out their rights are being taken away by a federal government that’s being oppressive,” said Wesley Hoyt, a Clearwater, Idaho-based attorney for the group that calls itself Open Roads 4 Idaho, on Monday. “We’re going to do a quiet title action, so we can determine whether or not the Forest Service has the authority to restrict access.”...more