The fight for Tony Grove
A mountainous area praised for its natural beauty and resources has become a battleground for conflicting groups of winter recreation enthusiasts that both want access to the region’s snowy niceties.
An area equaling about 1 percent of the total Wasatch-Cache National Forest is being fought over by cross country skiers and snowmobilers who love the land and want to enjoy it in peace. It’s a snarled story of legal dispute, overturned decisions and reluctant compromise that has yet to be resolved.
The issues revolve around the land-use designation of the Franklin Basin/Tony Grove recreation area of Logan Canyon. About 9,500 acres of prime cross country skiing and optimal snowmobiling terrain was labeled by the Cache-Wasatch Forest Service as wilderness in 2003, prohibiting all motorized vehicles from entering, including snowmobiles.
The 2003 decision was “a terribly stupid closure,” according to Garth Barker, avid snowmobiler and commander of the Search and Rescue team through the Cache County Sheriff’s Office.
Known as the Forest Service’s Record of Decision (ROD), the 2003 assessment took about four years to produce and came after months of scoping and discussion with people from all sides of the issue, said District Ranger Rob Cruz of the Logan Ranger District.
The ROD closed 9,500 acres of the lower portion of the bowl-shaped area to motorized use and in doing so cut off access to trailheads and routes to the higher elevations that were open to motorized users, Barker said.
“You had to violate the plan to get back off the mountain,” he said. “The design of the closure wasn’t thought through. This thing was drawn in the offices of the Forest Service and not looked at on the ground.”
The closure didn’t follow a discernible ridgeline and the boundaries weren’t clearly identified which made it difficult for snowmobilers to know when they were within the motorized boundaries, Barker said.
Although it restricted access of motorized users around two yurts utilized by skiers during the winter, the skiers weren’t satisfied with the ROD either.
“Neither of us were completely happy with the decision,” said Wally Mcfarlane, president of Nordic United, a cross-country skiing and snowshoeing rights group. “We appealed because we didn’t think the boundaries were enforceable.”
News of the continuing controversy made its way to Washington D.C., where Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment David Tenny instructed the Forest Service to get more feedback from the groups, Cruz said. From there, the Forest Service implemented a mediation process used in labor disputes when unions and corporations can’t find a middle ground known as mediated arbitration.
During 2004, the groups met separately and came up with proposals they thought best served everyone’s interest. The idea behind the method was that each group would compromise independently so their proposal would be selected and implemented by the forest service.
When the proposals were finalized in 2005, the forest service selected the snowmobiler’s plan, which cut the 9,500 acres previously slated as wilderness by about half, and provided for a three-mile snow connector trail to connect the Franklin Basin and Tony Grove parking lots. The plan also allowed for larger, non-motorized zones around the skiers’ yurts.
“The snowmobilers really bent over backwards,” Barker said.
When the plans were presented, the skiers’ proposal was “dead in the water,” Mcfarlane said, as the skiers misinterpreted some of the criteria and didn’t provide access for motorized users to make loops around the higher elevations.
“We felt that we got the raw end of the deal,” he said. “The process was flawed.”
With the help of national organizations and attorneys, Nordic United sued the Forest Service for non-compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the Forest Service to provide public notice of meetings. The Forest Service settled the case in 2005. As part of the settlement, they agreed to throw out both proposals and return to its 2003 decision. In the settlement, the Forest Service also agreed to pay for Nordic United’s legal fees.
Shortly after the settlement, however, the Forest Service came out with a scoping proposal that had four alternatives, the first of which, known as the Proposed Action, was very similar to the snowmobile proposal from the mediated/arbitration.
“We felt like they really hadn’t done what they promised to do in the settlement,” Mcfarlane said.
The future of this highly coveted area remains unknown as the Forest Service is currently working on a final decision to be released as soon as possible, Cruz said.
“We’re trying to make the best decision,” he said. “Just because we’re the agency administering doesn’t mean we know everything.”
They have collected some 580 comments from recreation enthusiasts on both sides in hopes of satisfying more people. Ultimately, however, Cruz said he doesn’t think any plan they come up with will please everyone.
Generally, skiers would like to see the 2003 plan implemented as they view it as a “workable compromise,” while motorized users want a plan similar to the one they proposed during the mediated arbitration implemented.
“I fully expect this to be appealed and litigated no matter what decision we come up with,” he said. “There are folks out there on both sides who want everything.”
Of the approximately 1.2 million acres of national forest in the Wasatch-Cache, 540,000 acres – about half – are designated for winter motorized recreation according to the Forest Service Web site.
Skiers, however, have access to the wilderness areas motorized users are excluded from, which total some 309,000 acres and an additional 385,000 acres that are designated for non-motorized recreation outside of those wilderness areas, according to the Web site. Skiers also have access to the designated motorized areas, giving them admission to almost the entire forest, Barker said.
Ultimately, motorized users are just tired of getting kicked out of the public lands their taxes and snowmobile registration dollars go to fund, he said. Seventy-nine percent of snowmobiliers in the state come to this area because they’ve had access closed in areas where they live, Barker said.
“This is the crown jewel of snowmobiling and they’re not going to let it go without a fight,” he said.
The area is also known by skiers as one of the top areas for powder-skiing in the world and they’re tired of having their experience ruined by loud, stinky snowmobiles, Mcfarlane said, making the Tony Grove/Franklin Basin area worth fighting for.
“[Our] back yard has national exposure,” Mcfarlane said.
That national exposure has brought with it attention from national lobbying groups on both sides of the issue, including Winter Wildlands Alliance and the Blue-Ribbon Coalition.
At the heart of the controversy is the difference in the experiences snowmobilers and skiers seek, Mcfarlane said.
Nordic United advocates “preserving areas for quiet recreation,” and revving engines doesn’t fit that bill, he said.
In addition to noise and pollution concerns are environmental matters and, most significantly, safety issues for pedestrians. With snowmobiles able to reach 110-120 miles per hour, the threat they pose to skiers and snowshoers is imminent, said Yvonne Kobe, a backcountry skier and skate-skier.
She said she has witnessed several potentially deadly instances where irresponsible snowmobilers have passed her within a few feet going upwards of 40 miles per hour.
“One mishap and I’m so dead,” she said.
Confrontations have been experienced on both sides, with some skiers saying snowmobiles have cut extremely close to them to intimidate them, and snowmobilers saying skiers intentionally swing their poles to hit them as they pass.
In the wake of the continuing controversy, both Barker and Mcfarlane said they’ve received death threats.
“Most of the good people in between are getting tired of it,” Barker said. “People just have to learn to get along.”
The forest service is expected to make a decision concerning the land designation the area will receive within the next two weeks. It has taken into consideration everyone’s concerns and will implement a plan based on its findings, Cruz said.
-mof@cc.usu.edu