Most of the two dozen people gathered in the Helena Ranger District office Monday night spent their time pouring over travel maps of the greater Continental Divide area.

And most weren’t pleased with what they saw.

Non-motorized advocates noted that the proposed travel plan legitimizes user-made roads, not just those knowingly created by the U.S. Forest Service. Those who favor all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and other motorized vehicles say the proposed action shuts them out of places they’ve ridden for years.

John Gatchell, Gayle Joslin and Jim Posewitz sat at one end of the U-shaped table, trying to translate maps into their on-the-ground knowledge of roads and trails on about 155,480 acres of public land in Lewis and Clark and Powell counties. The affected lands includes Black Mountain, the Tenmile Drainage, the Little Blackfoot/Bison mountains and four inventoried roadless areas: Electric Peak, Jericho Mountain, Lazyman and Nevada mountains.

“They’ve created routes that were previously closed and had been closed by other decisions,” noted Joslin, a retired Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist, as she pointed to squiggly red lines on a small map. “They have routes that go to roadless areas with closures, but look like they’ll be sanctioned to go into those areas as well.”

Gatchell added that it looks as though snowmobile use would be recommended in the Bison Mountain wilderness.

“This is a terrible plan. It’s a disaster,” Gatchell said.

At the other side of the room, Doug Abelin and Gary Petersen, members of the Capital Trail Vehicle Association, and other motorized vehicle users also studied the maps and felt their ideas were left out of the travel planning effort, which has been under way in various forms since 1999. Large-scale fires, budget constraints and new planning rules all put the work into a holding pattern until recently.

“They’re closing places we used to be able to go, and there are seasonal changes, too,” Abelin said. “We don’t see any point in that.”

Petersen added that some of the closures are being recommended at certain times of the year for the safety of deer, elk and other animals, but that motorized use doesn’t seem to affect them adversely.

“I’ve rode past deer, I’ve rode past elk and they don’t even notice us, but the Forest Service say they have to close all this for their security,” Petersen said. “This isn’t like the 1800s, where those animals have never seen a car or person or a bike. They’re accustomed to this stuff.”

Helena District Ranger Duane Harp listened to the comments, and helped orient those who showed up to discuss the travel plan, plus the handful of people at the Forest Service open house wanting to learn more about plans to cut dead or dying trees along 750 miles of roads in public lands.

Harp said the maps they’re working off of apparently aren’t completely accurate, and he urged people who find mistakes to report them.

Tuesday’s meeting was part of a “scoping” process, which is one of the early travel planning stages. At this point, the Forest Service has put out a proposed action and a couple alternatives. They’re taking comments from the public as to what issues should be considered as they put together an Environmental Assessment.

Overall, they’re proposing opening 74 more miles of road to over-snow vehicles; closing two miles of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail to motorized used; and converting about five miles of existing roads to motorized trails only open to ATVs and motorcycles.

“We’ll do a content analysis and look at areas where issues are, like wildlife and fisheries, then see if we need to develop other alternatives or modify the proposed action,” Harp said, adding that he hopes the process will be completed within a year.

Harp smiled as he looked around the room at the wide range of people studying the maps.

“Obviously, their comments are all over the proverbial map,” Harp said. “Motorized groups want to see more routes open, non-motorized users want so see things closed. That’s why we’re doing this.”

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