Horsemen, legislators say wilderness area’s a disaster

Horse packers fed up with the lack of trail maintenance and the frequency of wildfire in Idaho’s largest wilderness area are asking legislators to declare it a natural resource disaster area. House Joint Memorial No. 1 seeks disaster status for the pristine Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area. Sponsored by Rep. Lenore Barrett of Challis and Rep. Marcus Gibbs of Grace — and authored by the Salmon Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of Idaho — the resolution represents a shot across the bow of the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the 2.3 million-acre area in the mountainous heart of the state. For years the group has been asking district rangers, forest supervisors and regional foresters to increase trail work in the wilderness area. Now, members are hoping to get the attention of Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “We came to the conclusion we have been working on the wrong end of the government mule, that we somehow need to get the head’s attention and a joint memorial from the Idaho Legislature would be a good way to start,” said John Burns, a retired forest supervisor from Carmen and a former Idaho Fish and Game commissioner. The agency has fallen behind schedule in its annual effort to open and maintain the 2,500 miles of trails that weave over and through the area’s tall granite peaks, lush meadows and steep river canyons. Exacerbating the problem are wildfires that weaken trees and make them prone to falling in the years, and even decades, after the flames have died...more