News and Photos

MSA has gone Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Montana-Snowmobile-Association/371333199027 check it out be come a friend and ask on the wall to add photos.

 Big Sky Snowriders (Livingston Mt)  has gone Facebook check it out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Livingston-MT/Big-Sky-Snowriders/358549091119

Published 3.5.2010

Volunteers keep winter trails well-groomed
By Matt Dettori, Enterprise Staff Writer

This season’s snowpack levels continue to sit lower than average into March, which gives area volunteer trail groomers more reason to continue to take care of the snowy trails.

Big Sky Snowriders, the Park County chapter of the Montana Snow Mobile Association, manages several winter trails in the Crazy and Absaroka mountains.

Trails used by snowmobilers, along with skiers and dogsleds, develop large bumps and deep troughs from the various types of riding they endure. Any snowmobiler, musher or cross-country skier who’s ridden the bumps will agree it’s not a fun ride, said Big Sky Snowriders Grooming Committee Chairman Wayne Ford, who is also one of the grooming volunteers.

That’s why the Park County chapter turns the rough trails into smooth corduroy pathways.

“You get a good hard base on the trail (by grooming),” Ford said. “It takes longer for the snow to melt, and our riding season will be longer.”

When riders have a bumpy experience on a trail, they are inclined to go elsewhere the next time they ride, Ford said. Having a good trail will appeal to more snowmobilers, and snomobilers bring in “a lot of money,” to the community, he added.

The smooth paths aren’t just for an easy ride and a longer-lasting trail, but also for safety, Ford said.

“When you meet traffic (on the trail) the bumps could bounce you into oncoming traffic or ... off the trail,” said MSA member and Livingston resident Kemp O’Neill.

The groomers also take care of removing objects from the pathway such as fallen timber and rocks, he said.

The Big Sky Snowriders grooming committee grooms more than 40 miles of trails within the Crazy and Absaroka mountains. The three trails they groom are the Shields River Road loop, the Ibex trail south of the loop and Mill Creek in Paradise Valley.

The grooming program is administered through the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Recreational Department.

A portion of the state’s gas tax is given out to different MSA clubs to use for grooming and trail maintenance expenses. The tax is from payment for gas used for snowmobiles in the state, Ford said.

The Big Sky Snowriders purchased its own groomer several years ago. The club was able to lease a much nicer 2001 Bombardier snowcat from FWP this year, said Snowriders member Kemp O’Neill.

Every two years, funds from the FWP gas tax are used to purchase a new snowcat for a different club in Montana, O’Neill said.

O’Neill, Ford and Clint Juhnke are the three stewards that volunteer their time to groom the snowmobile, ski and sled trails.

O’Neill spent all day Thursday grooming the Shields River Road loop in the northern Crazy Mountains in preparation for the annual Big Sky Snowriders Poker Fun Run fundraiser set for Sunday. The event, which involves getting a playing card and making stops for more cards along the Shields River Road loop, has seen as many as 200 participants in previous years.

The first card for the 22-mile Fun Run will be given at 9 a.m. and the last card will be handed out at 11 a.m. The cost is $5 for each hand. The best hand gets a cash prize, O’Neill said.

Riders, once they receive a card, will drive the entire Shields loop, stopping along the way at checkpoints to collect card for their poker hands. The last stop is at the Shields River Campground. Chili and hot dogs will be served at the final stop.

The organization will also sell raffle and 50-50 tickets for $1 each. The raffle is for a fully processed pig. All proceeds will go toward the Big Sky Snowriders chapter.

News from District 10

Hello All- we received the long-awaited decision from Judge Molloy on the Gallatin case. Basically it just tracks Judge Lynch's F&R, with some editorializing and additional flair thrown in as we have come to expect from Judge Molloy.  This ruling by Judge Molloy stated that the Forest Service did not demonstrate how its 2006 Travel Plan complied with the Wilderness Study Act's requirement that future management maintain the wilderness character of this area as it existed in 1977, when the Act was passed.

Then the USFS moved that the Court "clarify or amend" the Gallatin order/judgment. Basically they want the court to clarify that the order should not apply outside of the WSA, i.e. the travel plan is still in effect for the rest of the Forest.  RE the WSA, the motion asks for "guidance" on how to administer motorized/mechanized use on remaining forest.

The USFS has made a decision as to management of snowmobiling this winter on an interim basis in order to comply with judge Molloys order in the MWA case.   Essentially the Big Sky trail will remain open and about 2700 acres in the north end of the WSA.  They claim these areas were documented as open and used in 1977. The rest of the Buffalo-Horn Porcupine Hylite WSA was closed on Dec. 1, 2009.

Then Citizens for Balanced Use (CBU), the Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Association, Big Sky Snowriders and Dr. Kenneth Zahn filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to appeal a ruling by United States District Court Judge Donald Molloy that closed recreation in the Hyalite-Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.

I hope I’m not losing anyone with this soap opera!

TSA, MTVRA, and MSA have filed a cross-appeal so we can keep a dog in this fight as it moves though the 9^th Circuit.

The bottom line is that the USFS was not satisfied with the 60% closure of the Gallatin National Forest to motorized use with the Travel Plan, but now they have closed 155,000 acres of the BHPH WSA to winter use.

I’m not even going into Mr. One Term Tester’s S1470 wilderness bill as I’m on overload, but it too will take a hell of a bite out of our Buck Creek riding.

Ride what you can today as they may take it away tomorrow.

Think Snow, Ride Safe and God Bless

 From District 10

Kemp O’Neill

published on Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:11 PM MST

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE RY Timber employee Donald Sheen unloads a timber shipment in Livingston on Thursday afternoon. Sen. Tester’s proposed wildland legislation drew fire on Capitol Hill during the bill’s first hearing on Thursday. The requirement is a major component of Sen. Jon Tester’s sweeping forest bill, which had its first congressional hearing Thursday afternoon.

Tester and supporters of his bill say the requirement would provide struggling lumber mills with logs and reduce the number of beetle-killed trees in the forest, which includes the Madison Mountain Range southwest of Bozeman.

However, members of the Obama administration and environmentalists told a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee that the provision could set a dangerous precedent for forest management and prove difficult to implement.

Harris Sherman, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said 1,000 acres is logged, on average, in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Increasing that to 7,000 acres every year is “not reasonable or achievable,” he said.

GA_googleFillSlot("Large_Square"); Also, the cost of advertising and implementing timber sales would be costly for the U.S. Forest Service, Sherman said.

“I do not have a precise figure,” he said. “It would certainly run into the millions of dollars on an annual basis.”

Meanwhile, Matthew Koehler, of the Missoula-based WildWest Institute, told the subcommittee that the mandated logging provisions “are unprecedented and represent an unscientific override of current forest planning.”

But Tester and a coalition of loggers and conservationists who support the legislation defended the mandates.

Tester said pine-beetles had turned the Beaverhead-Deerlodge forest into a “sea of red,” and said more forest needs to be opened up to logging if Montana’s lumber mills are expected to stay open.

“We cannot afford to lose these people who know how to manage our forests,” he said of the mills.

In a phone interview after the hearing, Tester said his bill would contain the cost of timber sales, in part because it would be harder to sue the Forest Service over logging proposals.

“If we get this bill passed, it’s going to reduce litigation in a big, big way,” he said.

Along with the logging requirements, the bill would create 677,000 acres of wilderness, most of it in Southwest Montana, garnering the support of many major environmental groups.

If passed, it would be the first new wilderness designation in Montana in 25 years.
 

This was recived from the FS today. I just want everybody to be aware that all, but 2700 acres, of the WSA between the Yellowstone and the Gallatin Rivers is now closed to snowmobiling. e-mail me at kempo@wispwest.net and I will forward you the maps if you would like to see them. 

Kemp

The following is from;

 Alan J. Campbell
USDA - Office of the General Counsel
Missoula MT
Phone (406) 329-3072
FAX      (406) 329-3064
ACampbell@fs.fed.us

The Gallatin has made a decison as to management of snowmobiling this winter on an interim basis in order to comply with judge Molloys order in the MWA case.  The maps attached depict the open areas.  Essentially the Big Sky trail will remain open and about 2700 acres in the north end of the WSA.  Both were documented as open and used in 1977

I would like to talk about Outdoor Safety!  I like to get out and ride snowmobiles in the winter and hunt also, so this information will be useful for anybody that goes outdoors!

Last fall, I bought a SPOT (www.findmespot.com).  The neat thing about the SPOT is when I get to the area that I'm going to go play, I hit the 'I'm OK' button to let my contacts know where I am starting from.  Then when I stop for lunch I hit the 'I'm OK' button again to let them know which direction I headed!  Then when I get back to the truck I hit it again to let them know I am done playing for the day and will be headed home!

You set it up from your computer by selecting from your contact list the people you want to notify.  You can either have the message go to their computers or their phones.  It gives the GPS location every time you hit the 'I'm OK' button so they know where I am at (especially the Wife so she doesn't start spending the life insurance money that day!).  This is where I want to mention that it is a good idea to include someone on your list of contacts that would actually come find you!  (Again, the Wife may not if you are worth more Dead than Alive!)

This device also has a button that sends 'Help...I'm OK but need assistance'.  For example, I hit the 'I'm OK' button three times means I'm back to the truck.  If I need assistance, I hit the 'Help' button which lets my contacts know to send a wrecker to the GPS location sent to them (they know I need a wrecker because I drive a Government Motors pickup!).

Of course, the most important button is the '911' button.  If this button is pushed, it not only goes to your contacts but also to the nearest emergency dispatch or closest search and rescue to alert them to the need for emergency assistance.

With this device, anyone hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, ATV'ing, horseback riding or enjoying any outdoor sport will feel secure in knowing that they are just a button away from help if needed and family/friends will also enjoy the security of not having to worry! 

Just remember, the $180 that it would cost to purchase a SPOT sitting nice and warm and safe in your bank account isn't doing you any good if your out in the hills somewhere hurt, lost, stuck, hungry and cold!

On another note, I want to tell you about our Waxies Fire Starters!  These are a must for any outdoor enthusiast to have on hand.  All you need to make them is a cardboard egg carton, your Wife's old candles and dryer lint!  Cut each square out of the egg carton, fill with lint from the dryer and pour the melted wax from the candles over the lint until full.  (The reason we use the Wife's old candles is we try to guess the fragrance and to give us the homey feel!)  Store them in a zip lock bag with two good lighters (always have two because one will always not work)!  Just light a corner and put in with your branches.  They will burn for about 15 minutes.

Please come to our web site and join our contact list to find out what's going on in the Great Outdoors!

Now go out and enjoy!

Ed Melcher

Dist 11 rep

A thought from District 10

 I sit at my computer and think about the way Yellowstone has been taken away from the snowmobilers and winter use was given to the venders using the Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles  and a guide. That even if you ride a 4 stroke like I do you can’t go in the park unless you have one of the tested for the park two up approved sleds that are in the rented fleets.

We all know that we are slowly getting choked out of our parks and all Public Lands, but what will the Greenies go after next?

Here’s a thought that I would like to throw out there. Peak days this summer show that 30,000 + folks where visiting the park. The horror for the animals, the trails, the roads, the outhouses, and the tax paid employees, that babysit the buffalo riding and bear chasing imbalanced people, can you imagine the amount of money (Tax Payers) that it takes to run this summer drive though Zoo? Now I get to the solution to this summer stress.

#1;  We limit the number of cars to 1,500 per/day of only the Best Available Technology (BAT) cars (hybrids), absolutely no clunkers, maybe we could add some pedals in the front seats. These cars will need to be on the approved list and meet the same stats that the snowmobiles do.

A; Now let me explain #1, 1,500 cars with 2.5 people each is 3,750 people in cars per/day.

#2; These cars will have to have a guide in a guide’s car for every  four cars.

A; That would be about ten people per/guide and this would almost stop the buffalo sitters and bear chasers. This in turn would cut the number of tax paid employees 40%.

                #3; Limit the numbers of busses to 60 per/day only  With Best Available Technology (BAT) .

A; If each bus carries about 50 people that would be about  3,000 more folks. Ten folks per/guide would come to five guides per/bus. I think that they could count the bus driver as one. This could cut the  number of tax paid employees another 30%.

                #4; No motorcycles they make too much noise.

                #5; Limit bicycles to 200 per/day.

A; 10 bicycles per/two guides, they need a guide fount and rear as they stretch out the longest down the road and one guide cannot keep track of all of them.

                #6 Limit back county hiking-camping  to 200 per/day.

                                A; One guide per/ten hiker-campers

                This would limit the number in the park to 7,150 per/day. Just think how this would bring back the smiles in the animal’s faces, and reduce the tax paid employees by millions of dollars per/year, put 715 guides to work, roads will last longer, and it would be a lot quieter for all.

                This is a little sarcasm but do you really think that when they make the winter use of our parks nonexistent that they will  all retire and go away? We all have to start fighting like hell! If you don’t ride Yellowstone you still have to fight for it or they will steal[  more of what is ours when we are sleeping.

Think Snow,

Happy Trail

Kemp O’Neill District 10 Director

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today contacted Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, and urged him to re-think plans to cut winter use access to Yellowstone National Park by half. Rehberg's letter was signed by a coalition of Representatives from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Utah including Rep. Lummis (WY-AL), Rep. Simpson (ID-02), Rep. Coffman (CO-06), Rep. Bishop (UT-01) and Rep. Chaffetz (UT-03).

While we are obligated to preserve these parks for future generations, there is also an obligation to the current generation to allow access to these public lands, said Rehberg. Outdoor recreation is a multi-billion dollar a year industry in Montana, and our economy can't take another hit right now. The Interior proposal, in its shortsightedness, also neglects seniors and folks with physical disabilities that experience Montana's backcountry on motorized vehicles. We can protect the environment while also allowing public motorized access. Yellowstone National Park officials have been working collaboratively on this two-fold effort for years. This new wrench in the machine slows the process by forcing them to start all over again and everyone suffers.

Outdoor recreation is critical to Montana's economy, with personal watercraft businesses alone contributing $2.7 billion annually, and Yellowstone National Park has already had more than 1.3 million travelers visit the park this year. Unfortunately, the status of winter use access in Yellowstone has been uncertain for years, largely due to federal meddling between different Administrations and branches of federal government.

Snowmobiling plays a critical role in the local economy and provides access to public lands for thousands who wouldn't otherwise have it, said Rehberg. While some from New York and California are trying to close off millions of acres to motorized vehicles, I hope that we can at least maintain existing public access levels in Yellowstone.

Letter:

Dear Secretary Salazar:

We're writing on behalf of our constituents who are concerned about the Department of the Interior's (DOI) proposal to cut in half the number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone National Park during the next two winters.

The issue of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park has been a long-running concern for more than a decade. In 2007, the National Park Service brokered a much-needed, commonsense plan to allow a limited number of commercially-guided snowmobiles and snow coaches in Yellowstone. This decision came after receiving well over 100,000 public comments. Unfortunately, a Washington, D.C. judge threw out this plan in September, 2008.

Two months after this ruling, a Wyoming judge ruled in a separate case that 720 snowmobiles was the correct allowance. Now, not even a year after the last ruling, the Department of the Interior has proposed to cut this allowance in half.

Snowmobile guides and snow coach operators, including the hotels, restaurants and shops that attract business from their customers, need a long-term plan under which to operate. Month-to-month changes in rulemaking are no longer acceptable, and the DOI must release a plan that frees small businesses from their bureaucratic grip. The original plan was thorough and comprehensive, as officials from all three states held hearings, public meetings and invited significant input from all interested parties. All aspects, including pollution, were weighed in the original decision, but now we have to start over from square one.

Over the past decade, much progress has been made in cutting snowmobile pollution in Yellowstone. New technological advances and stricter emissions requirements have aided this effort. While we appreciate these advancements, they have come at the expense of private snowmobile guides who depend on consistent regulations to guide their operations. After years of executive rule making and judicial wrangling, the issue of snowmobiles in Yellowstone remains unresolved.

We urge your full consideration to reinstate the original plan, which was equitable and well-balanced. Thank you for your attention to this matter. If we can be of further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.