The paranoia and lack of knowledge by the folks who want Wolves and Grizzlies reduced to meaningless numbers is just astounding..............At the end of the day true sportsmen who are in touch with reality are those who recognize that large swaths of land not punched with roads, wells, pipelines and infrastructure are the key for the land to be populated with wildlife of all kinds, including carnivores..............To be against road closing because anything the Feds do is wrong, is assnine.............Why do you think so many ranchers in the Midwest just fought hard to stop the Tar Sands pipeline from Canada..............They know that these type disruptions kill the land and all on it.............You want to hunt the road closed regions,,,,,,,then my advice is that you park at the furthest point allowed-----AND THEN GET SOME NEEDED EXERCISE AND WALK IN

GRIZZLY ROAD CLOSURES

Jim

The Dispatcher

Thanks for the update on this proposal, Jim. When you add this hundred plus miles of roads to the roads and USF&WL is likely to propose to be closed on about 530,000 acres on the same forests  in their current proposal to preserve mountain caribou habitat, it becomes apparent that there's an agenda at work in this area of northern Idaho, Washington and Montana (as if it were restricted to these areas!). It's not unrealistic to think that closures of these critical habitats to hunting might not be too far behind. Beyond a certain level of stupidity, cunning must be assumed.

Do you suppose all the recreationists that didn't speak up when the timber and grazing industries were under attack and being reduced or eliminated on National Forests are surprised that the focus is now on eliminating or greatly reducing recreation use of public lands? Now that the folks who work on these lands have been pretty much eliminated and local communities have lost that revenue, the counties are now very dependent on recreation revenues in their communities, so this will not be a welcome trend. Both federal agencies seem hell-bent on making lots of enemies out in the sticks so long as the urban voters aren't affected. It makes one wonder who the USFS considers to be their constituents these days. Hunters, fishers and about every other outdoor user makes use of this road network to enjoy their forests (yes, we seem to be forgetting that these are the people's lands).

 

Wonder when we'll hear from the counties/states on this?  I see from one of the messages you distributed that Idaho F&G is planning to hold public meetings next September to assess what the public wants from them...my guess is that there will be many who want F&G to become active in resisting the continual pattern of back country road closures on public lands to "protect" wildlife at the expense of public access. It'll be interesting to see where they come out on these proposals. They are already in the crosshairs o f Idaho sportsmen, and this will put them in a bind as to whether they side with their federal agency buddies or the people who pay their salaries. The feds don't seem to worry much about that, but maybe a state agency that is totally dependent on tag sales, etc. should be a bit more responsive.

Dave

Forests plan to restrict access to help grizzlies

The Associated Press

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A revised plan for the Panhandle, Kootenai and Lolo national forests of Idaho, Montana and Washington state would restrict motorized vehicle travel in prime grizzly habitat.

The Spokesman-Review reported Tuesday that the restrictions could eventually close up to 102 miles of backcountry roads to public travel across a 4,560-square-mile swath of the three national forests. No decisions on specific road closures have been made at this time.

The shutdowns are bound to disappoint some off-road vehicle enthusiasts. The Blue Ribbon Coalition, which advocates for motorized backcountry access, says it will review the plans.

But forest managers say grizzlies in two bear recovery zones in the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak mountains have been the losers in many encounters with humans. Since 1982 people have killed at least 97 grizzlies in these zones, making their recovery more difficult.

Roads bring more people into contact with grizzlies, resulting in higher rates of human-caused mortality for the federally protected bears, said Shanda Dekome, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests' ecosystem staff officer.