National Forests throughout the United States must start ranking recreational sites, with those low on the list facing possible closures, because the federal agency doesn't have the money to maintain all of the existing campgrounds and trailheads.

The Helena National Forest hasn't started ranking the sites just yet because it's a pretty fresh directive, said Public Information Officer Jerry Meyers, who only learned about the request for rankings on Friday.

"We're still trying to figure out how to approach it," he said.

At the Forest Service Region 1 headquarters in Missoula, Public Affairs Specialist Paula Nelson said no closures are imminent, but they are possible if a site poses a public-safety threat.

"If we have a handicap access boat ramp, and if it's not a priority activity and … the boat ramp, which is suspended over the water, won't hold a wheelchair, we might have to temporarily close that ramp," Nelson said on Friday. "It's speculation right now, but based on the fact that we don't have unlimited funds we could have to temporarily close or permanently dismantle some facilities.

"I'm not sure how this will unfold."

A letter from former Deputy Chief Tom Thompson last week directed recreation planners to put sites through a rating system by 2007 that will assess their costs, popularity and how closely they match what each forest designates its ‘‘niche'' audience.

Sites ranking low on the list may be closed, have their seasons trimmed or have services, such as garbage collection, cut back to bring spending in line with budgets dropping by millions of dollars a year.

"It is likely that most forests will have to make tough decisions to close some sites, curtail operations at other sites and decommission some sites in order to define a sustainable program," Thompson wrote.

Forest officials acknowledge that the crunch is due in part to President Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative, whose push to thin flammable Western forests has diverted money away from the upkeep of forest facilities.

"We get a pot of money for our budget and get told what it is we are to produce," Nelson said. "We don't get extra money to do anything extra, so we have to shift money to our priorities. If we are focusing on reducing hazardous fuels in the forests, that money is going to take from some other kind of project."

The Forest Service also is trying to raise money by auctioning off buildings over the Internet that aren't being used anymore.

"That money can come back to us for facility work," Nelson said.

The site is www.auctionrp.com/auctions2

The moves underscore the hard choices facing the Forest Service in the agency's centennial year.

"Trade-offs were made to keep the priority on hazardous fuels," said Hank Kashdan, Forest Service budget chief. "The budget is tight, and we had to make tough calls."

Michael Garrity, executive director of the environmental group Alliance for the Wild Rockies, is skeptical about the Forest Service's money woes.

"I have heard this kind of talk before, that they can't afford to clean toilets, which is funny since they have all this money to subsidize timber sales," Garrity said. "Cave Gulch (timber sale) was going to cost them several million dollars, the North Elkhorns project cost $1.5 million, same with Maudlow/Toston. You can clean a lot of toilets and keep a lot of campgrounds clean with the money it cost to subsidize these timber sales."

Others see darker motives. Starving the agency of cash forces it to keep only the most lucrative sites and run public lands like a commercial enterprise, they say.

"They will close those sites the public has always enjoyed but which they cannot afford because they are not profitable," said Scott Silver of the Oregon group Wild Wilderness. "It's the complete perversion of the meaning of public lands."

Few forests have completed the review, so it's unclear how many sites will be affected. But the erosion of money, despite added recreation fees imposed in recent years, suggest it could be many.

Oregon's Deschutes and Winema national forests started the assessments last year. They weighed the costs of cleaning bathrooms and repairing picnic tables and water systems against the money they get to pay for it.

"If we can't do all that to standard, we have to shut them down," said Rich Kehr of the Winema National Forest in Klamath Falls. "There's a significant number of sites we are considering closing."

Nelson said the public will be involved in any closure decisions, although she's not sure just yet how the process will work.

Reporter Eve Byron can be reached at 447-4076 or by e-mail at eve.byron@

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