Rocky Mountain Ranger District Travel Management Plan Record of Decision for Birch Creek South Lewis and Clark National Forest Rocky Mountain Ranger District Teton, and Lewis & Clark Counties, Montana October 2007 Lead Agency: USDA Forest Service Responsible Official: Lesley W. Thompson FOREST SUPERVISOR Birch Creek South Travel Plan – Record of Decision For Further Information, Contact: Dick Schwecke, Project Leader th 1101 15 Street North Great Falls, Montana 59403 (406) 791-7700 Equal Employment Opportunity Act - "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) 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The Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify, or replace, GIS products without notification. For more information, contact: Lewis and Clark National Forest 1101 15th St. North P.O. Box 869 Great Falls, MT 59403 (406) 791-7700 If a map contains contours, these contours were generated and filtered using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) files. Any contours generated from DEMs using a scale of less than 1:100,000 will lead to less reliable results and should only be used for display purposes. Rocky Mountain Ranger District 2 Lewis and Clark National Forest Birch Creek South Travel Plan – Record of Decision Birch Creek South -- Travel Management Plan Record of Decision Table of Contents I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 II. Decision .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Management Actions Specific to Decision......................................................................................... 7 III. Rationale for the Decision....................................................................................................................... 12 A. Meeting the Purpose and Need................................................................................................... 12 B. Consideration of Public Comments ............................................................................................. 13 C. Consideration of the Issues......................................................................................................... 14 IV. Public Involvement.................................................................................................................................. 38 V. Alternatives Considered in Detail............................................................................................................ 38 VI. Findings Required by Law ...................................................................................................................... 40 VII. Environmentally Preferred Alternative………………………………………………………………………… 40 VIII. Appeal Provisions and Implementation .................................................................................................. 40 IX. Planning Records / Contact Person………………………………………………………………………..…. 42 Approval Signature / Date.................................................................................................................. 42 List of Tables Table 1 Key Features of Summer Recreation Alternatives Selected and Modified for Implementation .. 6 Table 2 Key Features of Winter Recreation Alternatives Selected and Modified for Implementation ..... 7 Table 3 Summer ROS Acreage – Outside Wilderness……………………………………..………..…….. 16 Table 4 Winter Recreation Acreage – Outside Wilderness………………………………..……………...…18 Table 5 Miles of Trails / Roads Accessible for Non-Motorized Winter Recreation………………............. 20 Table 6 Miles of Trails / Roads Accessible for Motorized Winter Recreation........................................... 21 Table 7 Wheelchair Accessible Trails....................................................................................................... 21 Table 8 Miles of Roads/Trails within Bear-Marshall-Scapegoat-Swan Inventoried Roadless Area......... 23 Table 9 Winter Travel Restrictions within Bear-Marshall-Scapegoat-Swan Inventoried Roadless Area . 23 Table 10 Miles of Roads and Trails within Sawtooth Inventoried Roadless Area...................................... 24 Table 11 Winter Travel Restrictions within Sawtooth Inventoried Roadless Area ..................................... 24 Table 12 Miles of Roads and Trails with Deep Creek “Further Planning” Area ……………………………. 25 Table 13 Winter Travel Restrictions within Deep Creek “Further Planning” Area …………………………..26 Table 14 Miles of Roads and Trails within Forest Plan Recommended Wilderness Areas ………………..26 Table 15 Winter Travel Restrictions within Forest Plan Recommended Wilderness Areas ………………..27 Table 16 Trailheads Providing Non-Motorized Trail Access to Wilderness Trail System …………………..27 Table 17 Miles of Non-Motorized Trails Outside Wilderness ………………………………………………….28 Table 18 Miles of Open Motorized Routes within Seasonal Habitats ........................................................ .31 Table 19 Total Acreage and % Beyond 500m of Open Motorized Routes in key Spring Wildlife Habitats..................................................................................................... .31 Table 20 Percent of Bear Management Unit Subunits Outside 500m Buffer in Summer and Fall ............ .32 Table 21 Total Acreage and % of Seasonal Habitat Open to Snowmobiles.............................................. .33 Table 22 Miles of Designated Over-Snow Routes & Regularly Used Roads in Lynx Habitat by LAU....... .36 Table 23 Acres Open to Snowmobiling in Lynx Habitat by LAU and Percent of Habitat in LAU Open to Snowmobiling....................................................................... .36 Rocky Mountain Ranger District 3 Lewis and Clark National Forest Birch Creek South Travel Plan – Record of Decision Appendices Appendix A Trails for Hiking Travel Only……..………………………………………..………………...…….44 Appendix B Trails for Hiking and Stock Travel…….……………………………………..……………………45 Appendix C Trails and Roads for Hiking, Stock, and Bicycle Travel………..……………………………….46 Appendix D Trails and Roads for Motorcycle (single-track) Travel…………………………………………..49 Appendix E Trails and Roads for ATV (double-track) Travel…………………………………………………51 Appendix F Roads for Seasonal Travel with Passenger Vehicles…………………………………………...53 Appendix G Roads for Yearlong Travel with Passenger Vehicles……………………………………………54 Appendix H Yearlong Access Roads Not Changed or Included in ROD……………..…………………...…56 Appendix I Disposition of “Undetermined” Routes…………………………………………………………….58 Appendix J Decommissioned Trails and Roads………………………………………………………………..64 Appendix K Biological Assessment…………………..…………………………………………… …………..66 List of Maps Map 1 Record Of Decision – Birch Creek South (located in separate map pocket) Rocky Mountain Ranger District 4 Lewis and Clark National Forest Birch Creek South Travel Plan – Record of Decision I. INTRODUCTION Motorized and non-motorized travel on the Rocky Mountain Ranger District has been managed for the past 19 years under regulations described on the 1988 Lewis and Clark Forest Travel Plan map for the Rocky Mountain Division. In 2005, the Lewis and Clark National Forest proposed to revise and update the travel management plan for the Rocky Mountain Ranger District. In doing so, the Lewis and Clark National Forest proposed to designate roads, trails, and airfields that would be managed as system routes and comprise part of the Forest transportation system. The analysis area encompassed approximately 391,700 acres (the entire non-wilderness portion of the Rocky Mountain Division) of the 777,600 total acres that comprise the Rocky Mountain Ranger District. Approximately 385,900 acres of designated Wilderness in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (BMWC) were not addressed in an Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) prepared for the project. Of the 391,700 acres analyzed in the FEIS, about one-third (129,520 acres) are located in the Badger-Two Medicine area, and about two-thirds (262,180 acres) are located south of there in the Birch-Teton-South Fork Sun-Dearborn-Elk Creek area. II. DECISION This decision covers the southern two-thirds of the Rocky Mountain Ranger District, referred to as the Birch Creek South area. It encompasses approximately 262,180 acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands that are located south of Birch Creek