Local mountain bikers propose new plan for Lionhead area

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

Local mountain-bike advocates are gathering support to designate 23,000 acres in the Gallatin National Forest a “National Protection Area” in hopes of keeping trails there open to mountain biking while preserving its pristine quality.

The proposed Lionhead National Protection Area would lie east of Hebgen Lake and south of Quake Lake in Gallatin and Madison counties, and perhaps include another 15,000 acres in Idaho’s Targhee County.

One advocate of the plan, Corey Biggers of Belgrade, said the designation would give the area the same level of protection as wilderness, save two aspects: it would allow mechanized trail maintenance and bicycling.

Biggers and others started pursuing the designation n which would take an act of Congress n when forest managers recommended prohibiting bikes on four trails in the area last spring.

The Lionhead was recommended for wilderness designation in 1987, and in the process of writing the most recent Gallatin travel plan, the Forest Service decided to treat the area like a wilderness, according to Steve Christiansen of the Gallatin.

Mountain bikers aren’t allowed in wilderness areas. However, because the Gallatin’s travel plan didn’t specifically spell out that mountain bikes would be banned in the Lionhead area, it must follow a lengthy procedure to put a bike ban in place.

The forest is collecting public comment on the idea, and no decision has been made yet, Christiansen said.

That gives Biggers and other mountain bikers time to try to stop it. They particularly want the forest to allow mountain bikes on four “iconic trails,” one of which is part of the Continental Divide Trail, Biggers said.

In gathering support, Biggers presented the plan to the Gallatin County Commission last week. The commission signed a letter of support for the concept.

“They could loose the status of having mountain bikes in that area,” Commissioner Joe Skinner said. “I’ve never understood the reason for not having mountain bikes in that kind of area. … The whole National Protection Area seemed like a good idea to me.”

Not everyone is sold on the idea.

Patricia Dowd, Montana conservation coordinator with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said public comment during the travel plan development showed “people wanted to see that area managed as designated wilderness.”

Her group supports prohibiting bikes in the Lionhead area, Dowd said, adding that there are 1,300 miles of trails and road for bicyclists elsewhere in the Gallatin.

Biggers said mountain biking does not hurt natural areas, and that NPAs have been used successfully elsewhere.

“(Mountain biking) does not degrade the wilderness experience. We do not degrade wilderness,” he said. “When you look at areas that have these n users get along.”

Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com or 582-2665.

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