This story, originally published by Grist in collaboration with Montana Free Press/Mountain Journal as part of the Report for America Local News Initiative, is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
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story → publish → collaboration
There are many ways to enjoy the outdoors, but thrill-seekers visiting the nation’s national forests often turn to motorized recreation.
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seekers → be → recreation
They might ride ATVs along dirt trails, snowmobile down winding tracks, or go off-roading in 4x4s.
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They → ride → 4x4s
The United States Forest Service’s approach to all such forms of recreation on trails can be summed up in four words: closed unless designated open.
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approach → sum → words
Unless a trail is explicitly designated as open to off-highway vehicles, such as side-by-sides and dirt bikes, it can only be used for nonmotorized recreation.
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it → designate → recreation
Most national forests have travel management plans that outline when a trail is open for nonmotorized use like mountain biking, horseback riding, or hiking, and when it’s open to off-highway vehicles.
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it → have → vehicles
These plans tend to be exhaustive and list which types of motorized or nonmotorized access are allowed on every trail, two-track, and road.
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types → tend → trail
The strict guidelines are a result of a Forest Service policy called the travel management rule.
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guidelines → call → policy
But the Trump administration wants to turn the current rule on its head.
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administration → want → head
In late August, the Forest Service announced its plan to revise the rule so that trails are open unless designated closed.
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trails → announce → rule
It would mean forest managers would be expected to prioritize motorized access on service roads, trails, and even backcountry airfields.
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managers → mean → roads
The US Department of Agriculture, of which the Forest Service is a part, has said that the move will increase recreation access and “simplify regulatory requirements.”
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move → say → requirements
The change is being opposed by sportsmen, backcountry horsemen, conservation organizations, and nonmotorized recreation groups.
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change → oppose → sportsmen
They say opening up all Forest Service trails to motorized access could have devastating consequences for the ecosystems and wildlife that rely on these lands.
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that → say → lands
Healthy, intact forest ecosystems are also critical for sequestering carbon in a warming world.
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ecosystems → sequester → world
Hillary Eisen, the federal policy director for Wild Montana, a public lands advocacy organization, said everyone who uses forest lands, from recreationists and ranchers with grazing leases to those in the timber industry, relies on the clarity provided by travel management plans.
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who → say → plans
The Forest Service’s formal announcement to revise the rule is “vague,” “somewhat poorly written,” and “difficult to follow,” Eisen said.
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Eisen → revise → rule
Without clear guidelines in place, she fears motorized users could end up anywhere on the landscape.
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users → fear → landscape
“Any sort of feature that you could interpret to be a trail or a road would be open to every type of use, unless closed,” she said.
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she → interpret → use
“That could mean if you can get your side-by-side on there, have at it.”
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you → mean → it
Chris Edgington, a watershed project manager with Montana Trout Unlimited, witnessed firsthand the environmental damage that can happen from off-highway vehicle use on the Middle Fork of the Judith River, which runs through the Little Belt Mountains of central Montana.
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which → witness → Montana
Prior to 2023, there were more than 80 entrances and 27 shallow spots along a 6-mile stretch of the river, where various types of vehicles, including cars and side-by-sides, crossed.
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types → be → sides
As these vehicles cut across, they caused erosion and an influx of sediment that coats rocks along the riverbed, suppressing insect life and the ability for fish to successfully spawn.
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fish → cut → life
By 2020, the sediment runoff had gotten so bad it was choking out nearly all the fish, Edgington said.
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Edgington → get → fish
“The fish population was estimated to be less than 10 percent of what we’d expect of a river that size and character,” Edgington said.
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Edgington → estimate → river
“The river had become over-widened and shallow, creating unusual riffles, and the river couldn’t manage its sediment load.”
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river → become → load
So Edgington brought together a diverse coalition of groups, including the off-highway vehicle community and the Great Falls Trail Bike Riders Association, environmental groups, and federal and local government agencies to address the issue.
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Edgington → bring → issue
They rebuilt 1,000 feet of riverbank, reduced the number of crossings by 80 percent, and built a new section of the off-highway vehicle and jeep trail so the area could still be used for recreation, without harming the river.
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area → rebuild → river
It’s been a huge success, Edgington says, and the work is already paying off.
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work → say → ?
“Fish numbers are up,” he explained.
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he → explain → ?
“The work we did to remove the sediment is restoring water quality and the fish population in that incredible backcountry setting.”
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we → do → setting
The vehicles crossing the river weren’t breaking any rules; the Forest Service had designated the area open for motorized recreation, but the number of stream crossings degraded the health of the river and the threatened species that lived there, including the cutthroat trout.
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that → cross → trout
“I’m totally OK with appropriate machine use in the forest,” Edgington said.
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Edgington → ’m → forest
“But there are just places where the ecosystem is too sensitive to use this equipment.”
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ecosystem → be → equipment
The travel management plan, written by the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, recognized this impact to the river and the need to reroute the road out of the river corridor.
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plan → write → corridor
Parts of the Middle Fork are protected as a Wilderness Study Area and an Inventoried Roadless Area.
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Parts → protect → Area
Edgington said that because of those protections and the travel management plan, it was worth investing in this restoration; he knew the conservation work would last.
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work → say → restoration
He said a full repeal of the travel management rule would create more problems than it intends to solve.
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it → say → problems
A change of this magnitude, he said, could be a devastating blow to river health and restoration projects like the Middle Fork Judith.
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he → say → Judith
“Whether that’s off-highway vehicles in the river or motorcycles on horse trails, it’s going to create a lot of conflict and confusion and animosity between different user groups.”
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…and 35 more, not listed.
The Aporia
