Wilderness study standoff near the Idaho/Montana stateline

A new lawsuit, filed by the Blue Ribbon Coalition and the Idaho Snowmobile Association, takes on the Clearwater National Forest’s travel plan for banning motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and mountain bikes in a wilderness study area. Motorized and mechanized use is prohibited in wilderness designated by Congress under the Wilderness Act of 1964. But the Forest Service traditionally has allowed motorized use in wilderness study areas, which are not designated by Congress but are identified by agency managers as qualifying for that designation. Wilderness advocates have long pointed to the agency’s unwillingness to keep motorized users out of study areas as a failure to protect their wilderness character.  “Only Congress can designate wilderness,” said Sandra Mitchell, public lands director of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association. “We cannot stand idly by and watch them change the long-established system for managing these treasured lands.” Brad Brooks, deputy regional director of the Wilderness Society in Boise, said the lawsuit questions the ability of the Forest Service to protect wilderness character at all. “I see this as full frontal assault on wilderness,” Brooks said...more

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/09/03/2256085/wilderness-study-standoff.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy