Whether they're skate-skiing the groomed trails of MacDonald Pass, gliding along the still paths of Stemple Pass or exploring some other blown-over route in Montana's woods, cross county skiers this winter will readily note the breadth of the ongoing pine-bark beetle infestation.

U.S. Forest Service officials and Last Chance Nordic Ski Club members this week reminded skiers to practice common-sense standards out on the land: be aware of your abilities, surroundings, the wind and the weather; tell someone where you're going and when you'll return; watch for changing conditions; stay off closed trails; and don't linger in areas with dead trees.

"Trees can come down any time," Helena National Forest District Ranger Duane Harp said. "Wherever you are in the national forest, regardless of whether you're on a ski trail or not, you need to be aware of it."

"Use common sense," ski club member Stan Bradshaw added. "If you're on a trail system where you're seeing a lot of dead and downed things or it's a windy day, maybe back off to an area with less trees."

Skiers on the popular MacDonald Pass trail system will see some changes this year. The bugs have had a patchwork effect on the trees - some stands have been decimated, while other areas look the same as they have for years - but humans have also been at work.

Helena National Forest officials toured the trails with ski club members this fall and identified roughly 400 hazard trees that had to be removed before the club could begin grooming trails in December. Most of those trees have now been cut by Forest Service crews and ski club volunteers, Harp said, and the work should wrap up next week.

"There are enough trails clear already that we're going to get them open," ski club president Craig Pozega said.

If some trails still need work after the snow's begun to fly in earnest, they might open later in the season, he added.

The Resource Advisory Committee, a joint group of Forest Service and Lewis and Clark County officials, recently awarded the club a grant to help cover the costs of removing additional hazard trees through the winter.

Ski club veteran Bruce Newell was up on the trails recently and was impressed to see the amount of work that had been done.

"I was expecting the Cabin Loop to just be a mess," he said. "But it ... looks great, it looks fabulous.

"Much of the trails are as safe as they were 10 years ago," he added. "It's a patchwork. Where it's funky, where there's lots of dead trees, I'd pay attention."

The club, which has about 150 members and has been grooming and maintaining the trails at the pass for years, can kick off the season as early as Dec. 1, but Newell said a few more storms are needed before the trails are ready.

Newell is the only MacDonald Pass skier in recent memory - as far as anyone can tell - to see a tree tumble while out on the trail. He was skiing the Porcupine Loop last year on a warm day when he first heard sounds like small machine-gun fire - the falling timber snapped other branches as it fell. But the trunk, which fell about 100 feet behind him, was otherwise noiseless, he said.

"When it landed, it barely made a noise," he said. "You'd never hear it."