The Wilderness Debate: A discussion of the Gallatin Forest’s wild places, access to them and what the future holds
By BEN PIERCE Chronicle Outdoors
From the height of Hyalite Peak the rugged crags of the Gallatin Crest undulate south to Yellowstone National Park. Eastward, the high peaks of the Absaroka Mountains reach toward an endless sky; to the west the pinnacles of the Madison Range soar above Gallatin Canyon.
Hike these slopes and you’ve got a good chance of spotting elk and mountain goats and grizzly bears. You’ve also got a good chance of seeing a few people, though not as many as you may have a year ago.
This May, the Gallatin National Forest implemented its 2010 interim summer use management plan which restricts use on the Gallatin Crest and several other trails in the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area. The restrictions come in response to a ruling by District Court Judge Donald Molloy. In September 2009, Molloy ruled that the 2006 decision set forth in the Gallatin National Forest’s Travel Management Plan failed to maintain the 1977-era wilderness character of the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.
Molloy’s ruling set off a firestorm of debate and forced the Forest Service to make some hard choices. This summer, the public is getting a first-hand look at what those decisions mean for recreation within the WSA. And some are asking questions about what wilderness means, how we use it and what the future holds.
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From Meadow Village in Big Sky, the ride to Porcupine Creek is quick one. Every week through the summer, dozens of mountain bikers from this small community of just over 1,000 ride the trail to enjoy the scenic beauty of the Gallatin Mountains and get some exercise. They’re joined by hikers, motorcyclists and horseback riders out for the same.
Among the mountain bikers who ride this trail regularly is Tom Owen, owner of Gallatin Alpine Sports in Big Sky. Owen is a proponent of The Wilderness Act, but he also loves to ride his bike in and around the Gallatins.
It’s a difficult spot to be, but it’s one that a lot of folks are finding themselves in following closure of the Crest Trail and others along the Gallatin Divide.
“When people have been able to use (these trails) for a while and (that access) is removed, obviously there is emotion that comes to the surface,” Owen said while mountain biking Porcupine Creek recently. “The trails back here are moderate and above. Riding them is not about going crazy fast and trying to bomb for a screaming downhill. It is about getting out here and seeing the flowers and the animals. It is an amazing place.”
In all there are just over 200 miles of trail that lie within the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area. All of those miles are open to foot and pack use. The 2010 summer use plan reduces the amount of trails open to mountain bikes and motorcycles from 70 miles to 40 miles. The amount of trail opened to just mountain bikes has been reduced from over 100 miles to 20 miles.
Porcupine Creek is among the trails that remain open to mountain bikes and motorcycles under the Forest Service’s 2010 summer use plan.
Owen said that multiple-use works well in the Porcupine Creek drainage. It is a place where neighbors meet along the trail.
“There is an incredible bonding with runners, bikers, horseback riders … there is quite a bit of positive energy that goes on out here,” Owen said. “Everybody is sharing in the experience.”
And a lot of folks in the Big Sky area depend on the Porcupine Creek Trail for both commercial and recreational use. Guided trips into the drainage are frequent in the summer months, bringing much-needed tourists and tourist dollars into the Big Sky community.
“A lot of times people think we are just a bunch of rich folks up here,” Owen said. “But that’s not the case. There are lots of people working two or three jobs to get by in Big Sky because they love this area.”
Owen said that if the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area is designated wilderness and the Porcupine Creek Trail is closed to mountain biking, it would leave just one paved bike path and one community trail for riders in the Big Sky area.
Still, Owen remains a strong proponent of The Wilderness Act, albeit with a few reservations about what it could mean for the Gallatin.
“The 1964 (Wilderness) Act is a really important act and it should never be changed,” Owen said. “I am very proud of it and glad to have the wilderness areas we have. Unfortunately, in today’s world you are not going to make everyone happy.”
Owen said the democratic process remains the best way to decide how land within the WSA should be used. As for the place of mountain bikes in the wilderness equation, Owen said he believes they fit as a quiet mode of travel that promotes health and outdoor enjoyment. He said the impact of mountain bikes on trails is minimal, pointing to the Porcupine Creek Trail as an example.
“People ride this trail everyday and you would be hard pressed to find 100 yards of mountain bike tire track in it,” he said.
Owen said the debate over use, travel restriction and impact has spurred a conversation among mountain bikers. He said the 2010 summer use plan has brought it to the forefront of thought in the community.
“There is definitely a dialogue in the biking community in Bozeman and Big Sky,” Owen said. “Especially now, for lack of a better way to put it, we have to mind our Ps and Qs. A cyclist yields to everyone on the trail. We don’t need to ruin their experience or jeopardize our own.”
Owen, who has ridden the Gallatin Divide six times and crossed the Crest from Big Sky to Paradise Valley, said he is hopeful the Crest Trail will again be opened to mountain bikes in the future.
For now, he’s riding Porcupine Creek.
“For what we have left to mountain bike outside of Big Sky, I will enjoy it to the best I can,” Owen said. “We just have to live with these decisions and move on and work with the powers that be.”
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The Windy Pass Cabin sits just a few hundred yards from the Gallatin Crest. At approximately 8,900 feet, it’s set in a broad meadow dotted with wildflowers and sporadic bunches of wind-blasted pine trees. A small stream flows beneath the cabin offering one of the few steady sources of water along the Gallatin Divide. For $30 a night, hikers can rent the Forest Service cabin and spend the evening beneath the glinting stars of the Montana sky.
Christian and Amy Johnsen, owners of Blue Moon Bakery in Big Sky, said the cabin offers a stunning wilderness setting less than half an hour from home. Along with their daughters Maya, 8, and Carter, 10, the Johnsens spent the night at the cabin on July 15.
For youngsters the conflict over use and the debate over wilderness may not resonate, but the beauty of the natural world certainly does. Even at the tender age of 10, Carter said the experience of wilderness represents an important respite from everyday life.
“I think of lots of trees and not really having a bunch of houses and buildings,” she said when asked what wilderness meant to her. “I like it natural without a ton of people. I don’t like seeing marks of people who have been here. I like it the way it was left before.”
Amy said she appreciates the peace and quiet of places like Windy Pass, but that conflict with other users has never been an issue for her in Montana. She said that’s a change, having moved to Big Sky from Salt Lake City where conflict between mountain bikers and hikers was more common due to heavy use.
While the Johnsens said the solitude of the Gallatin Crest is cherished, Christian said he wasn’t sure locking users out is the best answer.
“Wilderness to me seems like it should be a pristine area, but to find a place like that now … there are a lot of people out here,” he said. “I think a place like Porcupine Creek and the Crest Trail, there should be a wide variety of use available to all different people to come and enjoy this area.”
Christian said he thinks a system that allows for different levels of use for different areas with restrictions on travel becoming greater the deeper one reaches into a wilderness area would make more sense. He said he understands the difficult position managers are in when making decision on use, but believes there must be a better way.
“To call something wilderness and use that as a reason to shut everything down to everybody except people who are walking or on horseback – I think that shuts it down to too many people,” he said. “There are a lot of people that are upset about (the Gallatin Crest) being closed to mountain bikes and motorized vehicles as well.”
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Joe Gutkoski, 84, sits on the board of directors of Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness. He’s hiked the Gallatin Crest more than once, even running across it in his younger years. Today he’s working with others to try and protect the Gallatin Range as a wilderness area to be preserved and enjoyed in perpetuity by future generations.
“I think wilderness is a constant,” Gutkoski said during an interview on July 19. “I agree with The Wilderness Act as it was constructed in Congress. Weakening that bill with human uses that are not compatible with wilderness character is a mistake.”
Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness is proposing a wilderness designation for the entire Gallatin Range extending from its northern reaches between Livingston and Bozeman to the highway between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction in Yellowstone National Park.
Gutkoski said the organization’s goal of designating the range a wilderness area would put to rest certain fears that he believes exist in the public about such designations.
“People feel they need more secure boundaries on wilderness because they can’t trust the government agencies that manage them,” he said. “Those agencies want free reign to do what foresters do – to build roads and cut timber. The Gallatin Range is an example of those infringements.”
Gutkoski said wilderness designation would be an important step for wildlife in the Gallatin Range that require wilderness “to live out their lifespan.” He also said travel in wilderness should present a challenge.
“I like to go from point A to point B whether there is a trail or not – with a backpack, a sleeping pad and a shelter,” he said.
Still, Gutkoski admitted he hasn’t always held wilderness in the same regard he does now. He recalled an annual run across the Gallatins he participated in years ago. Sponsored by Bridger Mountain Sports, the run began at Fawn Pass and concluded at Mammoth Hot Springs. It went on for years until the Park Service found out about it.
“They set about arresting us because there is no organized running in the park,” Gutkoski said. “We weren’t interested in the foliage or the animals or the mountains. We were interested in running through. That is not what wilderness is about. There is something in nature that must be appreciated.”
According to Gutkoski, Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness has no desire to infringe upon the interests of other user groups, but he also said he doesn’t want to see wilderness areas becoming gymnasiums for outdoor athletes or racetracks for motorized users.
Gutkoski said efforts to preserve the Gallatin have been in the works for years. Back when The Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, he said the Gallatin was not included as wilderness because numerous parcels of land owned by Plum Creek Timber dotted the landscape. When the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn was designated a Wilderness Study Area in 1977, many of those private holdings still existed. Over the intervening decades those parcels have been purchased by the government.
Now, Gutkoski believes, is the time to protect the Gallatin Crest and surrounding areas for future generations.
“If you believe in wilderness, you need to define boundaries that Congress and the public can agree with and then defend that for all time,” Gutkoski said. “We are not making any more land; we are stuck with what we’ve got and have to protect what we have left.”
Related posts:
- Wolf debate between Elk Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife turns contentious
- Gallatin National Forest closes Hyalite Road to motorized use for spring break-up
- Gallatin Wildlife Association to hold clean-up along Gallatin River on Monday
- Gallatin Valley Land Trust seeking volunteers for trail work on June 5
- Gallatin County Commission approves plan to expand Bozeman Creek Trailhead
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