After eight years and numerous starts and stops, the South Big Belts travel plan is finished.

Helena National Forest Supervisor Kevin Riordan signed off on the travel plan this week, saying he has selected his previous preferred alternative - known as Alternative 2 - to be implemented beginning this summer.

The only other alternative under consideration was the mandated "no action" alternative, which means the status quo would be maintained.

Townsend District Ranger Mike Cole, who oversees the South Belts, said the plan generally decreases the miles of roads available for motorized use from May 15 to Dec. 1 by 19 percent.

That means closing about 38 miles of roads to motorized use, while adding 17 "new" roads - either user created or previously not on Forest Service maps.

About 10 miles are designated as mainly for use by all-terrain vehicles, which is up from about two miles. Cole said forest officials would be looking closer at all the trails in the future to determine if some can be used for both ATVs and larger motorized vehicles.

All of the routes also are available to nonmotorized use. Winter motorized use was addressed in a 1999 travel plan.

The South Belts generally cover about 83,000 acres of public land in Broadwater and Meagher counties, stretching from Confederate Gulch and Boulder Baldy Mountain on the north to Grassy Mountain and the Dry Creek drainage on the south.

Cole said the Forest Service tried to strike a balance with the travel plan for all types of use.

"Some people want more motorized use, some want less, and we want to reach that balance," Cole said on Friday. "We can't fully please everyone, so we look at what's best for the resource, what's best to put on the ground and what's required by law."

John Gatchell, conservation director for the Montana Wilderness Association, generally agrees with that assessment. Still, he's disappointed the Forest Service has agreed to have a road within the Grassy Mountain Roadless Area be open to motorized travel.

"It's so short-sighted," Gatchell said. "It wasn't a legal road. It was a trail, and inch by inch people drove on it and made it wider until it became a road.

"But the Forest Service did a pretty fair job on Mount Edith and Baldy, and they deserve credit for that."

Along Duck Creek Pass, some old logging roads will be opened to motorized use, but closed during hunting season.

Motorized travel planning in the Big Belt Mountains east of Helena began in 2000, but was halted due to the numerous wildfires that year, including the Cave Gulch and Maudlow/Toston fires in the Belts.

The process began again in 2003, but work was halted as forest employees were pulled from their normal duties to aid in the wildfire-fighting effort near Lincoln.

The plan can be appealed for the next 45 days. If that doesn't happen, Cole said he expects implementation - mainly signage and installing or removing gates - should begin this summer. A new map also will be created for forest visitors showing the open and closed routes.

Copies of the South Belts Travel Plan decision and documents can be viewed at the Broadwater, Meagher, and Lewis and Clark county libraries; the Helena National Forest Supervisor’s Office; and the Helena, Townsend and White Sulphur Springs Ranger Districts.

Click here to view the South Belts Travel plan.

Printed or electronic copies of the EA and DN/FONSI are available upon request. The supporting project record is available for review at the Helena National Forest Supervisor’s Office at 2880 Skyway Drive, Helena, MT 59602.

For additional information, contact Cole at 266-3425.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com