Flathead National Forest trails budget cut 10 percent; could get even worse

The Flathead National Forest will see a 10 percent cut in its trails budget this year as the Forest Service shifts trail funding from the north to the south.

The cut amounts to about $60,000 out of the Forest’s $600,000 annual budget for trail work. But it could get worse. The Forest, and the entire Northern Region of the Forest Service, could see an additional 10 percent cut per year in the next two years — all told, a 30 percent cut, or a little less than $180,000.

Nationwide, the Forest Service didn’t cut its trails budget, noted Gary Danczyk, a forest staff officer with the Flathead National Forest. What it did was shift funding to the other regions where frontcountry trails serve more people, such as in the Southwest. It’s an effort by the Washington, D.C. offices to get more people — notably youths — in the woods.

But northern region trails, like those in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, see far fewer people and are more expensive to maintain because no motorized equipment can be used to clear and maintain them.

Danczyk said the process of prioritizing trails is called “right sizing.” Even in the Flathead, the Forest is looking to prioritize frontcountry opportunities over backcountry.

That shifts the burden of backcountry trail maintenance more and more to nonprofits and other agencies, like the Montana Conservation Corps, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and Backcountry Horsemen groups.

Last year, for example, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation had 305 volunteers in the woods, completing 35 projects while clearing 133 miles of trails. They removed 2,229 trees and cleared 65 acres of weeds. In addition, they hosted a Wilderness Conservation Corps program, which pairs a mentor with young interns who spent the summer working the woods, noted executive director Carol Treadwell.

They did it all on a fairly shoestring budget — about $243,000 — which is raised through a patchwork of grants and donations, the largest being a specialty Montana license plate.

The Foundation often partners with other groups, like the Backcountry Horsemen of the Flathead, whose packers donate time to bring in supplies to camps. The Flathead Horsemen did 13 trail projects as well, covering 437 miles outside the wilderness and 146 miles inside the wilderness, often in support of the Foundation, MCC and other groups.

The Horsemen groups also did work in Glacier National Park — all of it on their own dime.

The Forest in the coming months will look to strengthen partnerships with such groups, Danczyk noted.

But in order to take on more projects, the foundation would have to expand, Treadwell noted. This year it has 40 volunteer projects on tap as well as the the WCC program. It will also add an apprentice packer program, which will teach two young packers the ropes of packing in the wilderness. The concern there is there aren’t enough young folks willing to pack in the wilderness as the more experienced packers retire.