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Protect the Lionhead Recommended Wilderness
Mountain bike activists are pressuring the Forest Service to drop proposed protections for the stunning Lionhead Recommended Wilderness and convert the rugged area into an extreme mountain biking destination. To protect the wilderness character and potential of the land and to preserve recommended wilderness in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, tell forest supervisors not to waver on their proposal to limit travel to foot and horseback. Add your comments to our letter below, then click on Send this Message.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I support your proposal to protect the future of the Lionhead Recommended Wilderness by limiting travel on recommended wilderness trails to foot and horseback. Lionhead is a rugged and very special wilderness of the Continental Divide - a last refuge for rare wildlife of the Yellowstone ecosystem. Closure of Lionhead trails to wheeled transport will enable this stunning area to be designated wilderness - as recommended by the U.S. Forest Service. Lionhead trails include part of the 3,100-mile Continental Divide National Scenic Trail - originally proposed by Wilderness Society co-founder Benton MacKaye as a "wilderness trail" linking wilderness and national parks along the Rockies. This rugged mountain trail - steep, narrow with multiple switchbacks - was designed for foot and horseback travel. Cyclists will continue to enjoy many trails and primitive roads outside recommended wilderness such as the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail. Bicyclists can ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail - a separate marked trail expressly designed for mountain bikes. There are many suitable trails and places to ride bikes without undermining a recommended wilderness. Finally, I understand that your policy for protecting recommended wilderness areas has come under fire from some mechanized and motorized activists. Please know that I strongly support your existing wilderness policy and I urge you to defend it against all attacks. Your policy protects quiet recreation experiences and it reduces user conflicts while protecting water, wildlife and other forest resources. Thank you for acting to protect the Lionhead Wilderness and your current wilderness policy.
Sincerely, |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
The rugged Lionhead Recommended Wilderness is special. Situated along the Montana-Idaho Continental Divide, it is the ONLY wilderness recommended by the Gallatin National Forest–and has been included in every Montana state wilderness bill.
The major trail there is the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDNST), which was intended for foot and horse travel when designated in 1978–not as a bike route.
The supervisor for Gallatin National Forest has proposed that Lionhead be free of mountain bikes. However, a national cadre of cyclists have mounted a major campaign to prevent this proposal from becoming a reality.
The Forest Service and Gallatin National Forest supervisor are being targeted by mountain bikers who want to see the area incorporated into a thrilling new "dream ride" that spans vast tracts of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail in Montana and Idaho.
To accomplish this, they are targeting outstanding wilderness candidate lands, including the Lionhead, Garfield-Lima Peaks and Italian Peaks along the stretch of the Continental Divide shared between Montana and Idaho west of Yellowstone–270-plus miles of very wild and remote wild lands.
The urge to recreate in beautiful areas is understandable, but total access to wilderness quality lands by mountain bikes undermines the very wilderness the cyclists hope to enjoy.
Mountain bike traffic can disturb wildlife, increase the amount and speed of trail erosion and reduce the remoteness and other wilderness values of the land, undermining its potential for wilderness designation.
Cyclists already enjoy their own separate, 2700-mile, mapped and signed trail just for mountain bikers–(OUTSIDE proposed wilderness)–called the "Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail."
Trails in the Lionhead are part of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which was created at the urging of Wilderness Society co-founder Benton MacKaye, who lobbied the Secretary of the Interior in 1966 for a wilderness trail spanning the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. MacKaye's vision called for a wilderness trail linking national parks, forests, monuments and wilderness areas along the Rocky Mountains. This vision will be threatened if we allow recommended wilderness trails to be claimed as mountain biking terrain.
Your letters of support for the proposal by Gallatin National Forest are needed by July 18 to fully protect the Lionhead Recommended Wilderness from mechanized use.
The Lionhead is a rare two-state/two forest U.S. Forest Service recommended wilderness in Henry's Lake Mountains just west of Yellowstone National Park. It is the ONLY wilderness recommended by the Gallatin Forest Plan and has also been recommended by Targhee National Forest.
