Burnt Ridge Residents Persevere
By Mary Allard
Turning west from US Hwy 93 onto West Fork Rd. will take you through a growing neighborhood where once there were just a few homes.
At mile marker 2 is a dirt road that goes through a large portion of a quiet neighborhood where children can safely play and ride their bikes. Most of us live here because of the natural beauty and the peaceful quiet.
Like many residents in the Bitterroot Valley, we have similar concerns and varied opinions about fires, drought, and county planning. However, one issue brought us all together when we formed the Burnt Ridge Homeowners Association (BRHA) in 2003.
At that time the Forest Service proposed legalizing renegade off-road vehicle (ORV) use in our backyards after years of enduring the noise and promises to stop the violations: the Forest Service, in the 1995 Huck-Trap Decision Notice, promised to close user-created ORV routes in the Hart Bench area. The illegal use continues to this day with no effective closures or law enforcement.
Fast forward seven years, where in 2003 the Bitterroot National Forest proposed the Trapper-Bunkhouse project that proposed a large ORV play area including construction of 3 parking facilities to access 45 miles of renegade routes. The Burnt Ridge area topographically is an amphitheatre and all sounds as well as dust come down the ridge directly into the houses of Burnt Ridge residents. The proposed routes were within 100 feet of homes which is why 40 of us homeowners and other residents got together to form the Burnt Ridge Homeowners Association. We told the agency that authorizing use on illegally created routes and building loops to connect them was rewarding criminal behavior which just encourages more illegal activity.
Much to our relief, Bitterroot National Forests officials dropped the proposed ORV play area after hearing our concerns and being reminded that they had promised to address the issue seven years ago. Unfortunately, this was not their last attempt to legitimize years of illegal use. In 2006 Darby District Ranger Chuck Oliver proposed the Burnt Ridge area as a 26 mile loop ORV “Beginners” trail, and the homeowners rallied once again. This time Burnt Ridge residents attended four public meetings at the Darby Community Clubhouse in the fall of 2006. The process was clearly intended to favor offroad
vehicle interests as the agency selectively sent out meeting invitations, allowed abusive remarks and booing from ORV proponents, and only entertained proposals that legitimized previous illegal use. No matter how many letters we wrote or how much abuse we endured, Bitterroot National Forest officials seemed intent on ignoring our concerns.
Finally, in a meeting with Forest Supervisor Bull and Ranger Oliver we had the opportunity to remind them of the 1995 Huck-Trap decision, and that they had not considered any alternatives to the Burnt Ridge location, and that noise and emission studies had never been done.
On January 19, 2007, Ranger Oliver sent a letter to interested citizens stating that the proposed ORV loop was not going forward. However, this is a hollow victory for the Burnt Ridge Homeowners because Ranger Oliver also indicated that the proposed Burnt Ridge ORV loops will again come up in the travel planning process for the Bitterroot National Forest.
Illegal use in our backyards has been ongoing for at least the last 14 years, and the only real responses from the Forest Service are attempts to legitimize these renegade routes. What will it take to protect our homes and lands from the impacts caused by illegal ORV use? How many times do we have to remind the agency of past obligations? The years of putting up with broken promises and hostile public meetings has not weakened our resolve, members of the Burnt Ridge Homeowners Association will continue to fight for the values that made this area so inviting when we first moved into our homes all those years ago. If there were ever circumstances justifying confronting the Forest Service, the Burnt Ridge is the place to take a stand.