Roadless Area Conservation Along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front: Are We Losing Ground?

Roadless Area Conservation Along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front: Are We Losing Ground?

Report Highlights
The Rocky Mountain Ranger District on the Lewis and Clark National Forest is a biologically rich landscape that harbors a vast array of important vegetative types and wildlife species -- from raptors and songbirds to carnivores such as the grizzly bear, gray wolf, wolverine, and lynx. Free of roads and motorized trails in designated Wilderness and other large core areas, the District exhibits an extraordinary wild nature that nurtures viable populations of wide-ranging wildlife species. It represents an increasingly rare contribution to biodiversity throughout the region and across the country.

The District’s high-quality habitat is at risk from a pending revision of the current travel plan. A preliminary proposal, released by the Forest Service, would increase the number of motorized trails and open pristine backcountry to use by off-road vehicles and other motorized transport.

This study employed state-of-the-art landscape analysis to determine the effects that the proposed changes to the transportation system would have on a number of wildlife species. Key findings include:

The Forest Service’s proposal would fragment lower-elevation land cover types in inventoried roadless areas -- essential for species that require lower-elevation habitats.
Ponderosa pine, sagebrush, and grasslands communities, all endangered ecosystems in the Northern Rockies and found only in the non-wilderness and roadless portions of the District, would be negatively affected by the transportation proposal.
The proposed transportation system would fragment wildlife habitat, thus disrupting natural behaviors and movement patterns for many wildlife species.
In the District nearly 40 percent of the Badger -- Two Medicine, Birch -- Teton, and South Fork Sun River zones and 9 percent of the Dearborn Elk zone would have road and motorized trail densities in excess of 1 mi/mi². Densities in excess of 2 mi/mi² would occur in 15 percent of the Badger -- Two Medicine and South Fork Sun River zones and 7 percent of the Birch -- Teton zone.
Scientific studies demonstrate that these densities are detrimental to many wildlife species, including the grizzly bear, gray wolf, elk, and bighorn sheep.

Recommendations
In its transportation planning process, the Forest Service should recognize the impacts of roads and motorized trails on ecological integrity and overall biodiversity. Loss and fragmentation of natural habitat are primary causes in declines and extinctions of native species. To help ensure maximum vegetative and wildlife biodiversity in the District and to contribute to these values across the broader region, The Wilderness Society urges the Forest Service to adopt the following recommendations.

The agency must develop the District’s travel plan in the context of the entire Lewis and Clark National Forest. The forest already contains abundant opportunities for motorized use across an extensive road and trail system in the Crazy Mountains, Little Belt Mountains, Castle Mountains, Highwood Mountains, Big Snowy, and Little Snowy Mountains areas. In fact, the forest-wide transportation system exceeds 1,500 miles of roads and 1,070 miles of trails open to motor vehicles.
The agency should adopt the principles of a sound transportation network that are outlined on pages 22 to 24 of this report.
The agency should:

Develop a conservation strategy that protects rare and under-represented ecological communities in the Northern Rockies, including whitebark pine, aspen, ponderosa pine, shrub-dominated riparian, sagebrush, xeric and mesic upland shrub, vegetated sand dunes, grasslands, and grass-dominated riparian areas.
Protect relatively undisturbed lower-elevation land cover classes that serve as critical wildlife habitat and as connections for the movement of wildlife species.
Designate roadless areas off limits to motorized use. These areas function as high-quality mid- to lower-elevation habitat for many wildlife species.
Determine the specific road and motorized trail network and close and restore all other routes that have been used for motorized use.
Calculate a comprehensive set of habitat fragmentation metrics for each species of interest.
Ensure that motorized route densities for the road and trail network are lower than those that are known to adversely affect all species of concern and threatened and endangered species.
Maintain non-motorized core areas of sufficient size to allow life history functions for ungulates and large carnivores.
Ensure habitat connectivity with adjacent areas that contain important, high-quality habitat.
Determine the cumulative effects of the route network on wildlife species and habitats for lands within the planning area and for adjacent lands.
Retain traditional non-motorized uses (hunting, fishing, camping, outfitting, hiking, and more) to assure historically high numbers of big game animals and forest carnivores.