Chainsaws in the Frank Church Wilderness?
There is no doubt about it: the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness is special. This 2.3-million acre landscape stands out as the largest wilderness area in the Lower 48 states. The Frank provides unparalleled opportunities for solitude, self-reliance, primitive recreation, reflection, and connection to something much bigger than ourselves.
Many people experience the Frank on a raft trip down the Middle Fork or Main Salmon, but trails are another important means of access to the area. Wilderness trails have been maintained by Forest Service crews for decades with non-mechanized tools such as crosscut saws and partner organizations like the Idaho Trails Association and the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation.
But declining federal budgets for public land management, recent drastic reductions in Forest Service staffing, and several large wildfires have contributed to deteriorating trail conditions across the Frank. As a result, trail crews have been unable to consistently clear downed trees and maintain the full network of trails in the way the agency was once able to when it was adequately staffed and funded. This led the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association to send a letter last May to the Forest Service requesting permission for outfitters to use normally prohibited chainsaws to clear downed trees from trails in portions of the Frank Church Wilderness managed by the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Under the Wilderness Act, some types of normally prohibited uses can be allowed for management activities in Wilderness if the Forest Service goes through a “Minimum Requirements Analysis” which compares alternatives to see if an action is indeed the minimum level of intrusion necessary to accomplish management goals (in this case, using chainsaws to clear trails).
In response, the Forest Service agreed to allow wilderness outfitters to use chainsaws on up to 61 specified trails totaling 542 miles. The trails are divided between the North Zone and the South Zone and represent almost one half of the trails in the Frank. The agency selected these trails by prioritizing high-use routes located in areas with significant numbers of downed trees (up to 700 per trail mile) based on wildfire history, as well as insect and disease impacts. Chainsaw use will be authorized for a three-year period between January 1-August 1, beginning immediately.
The Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association argues that the temporary use of chainsaws is necessary to reopen and maintain access to trails that might otherwise become impassable. The organization believes maintaining access is important not only for public enjoyment and safe travel through the Frank Church Wilderness, but also for ensuring people can continue to experience the landscape firsthand and develop a lasting connection to it.
As Erik Weiseth wrote in an opinion piece supporting the proposal: “Advocacy for the Frank Church Wilderness is not abstract; it is achieved by individuals who have experienced it.”
However, many longtime wilderness advocates who fought to create the Frank and those who have dedicated their careers to maintaining trails through traditional practices view this decision as unwise and undermining the intent of the Wilderness Act and wilderness values. While this decision could help restore opportunities for solitude and primitive and unconfined recreation, it could also undermine other qualities of wilderness character such as being untrammeled, natural, and undeveloped. Wilderness is not just about serving people. It has its own intrinsic value and one of the benefits of wilderness is the need to meet it on its own terms.
Many are also concerned that this three-year exception could eventually be permanently extended in the Frank Church Wilderness or expanded to other wilderness areas, resulting in a long-term erosion of wilderness values. Concerns that this could become a slippery slope toward additional intrusions and weakening wilderness protections must be taken seriously, particularly given the current administration’s track record on conservation and public lands issues.
ICL has supporters on both sides of this issue, and we have heard strong opinions from people with differing perspectives. When the chainsaw authorization was announced, we said we were open to considering a narrowly tailored, temporary approach allowing limited chainsaw use on a specific list of priority trails. We also emphasized that any such authorization should be limited to individuals properly trained and certified in Forest Service trail maintenance and wilderness stewardship standards, and should be implemented in a manner that does not undermine the long-term protections that make the Frank Church Wilderness unique.
Importantly, ICL does not support a permanent policy shift away from traditional wilderness stewardship practices or broad authorization of chainsaw use in the Frank Church or elsewhere within the National Wilderness Preservation System. Chainsaws should never become common practice in Wilderness Areas.
The next step for ICL is to work with the Forest Service, Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association, and trail stewardship organizations to ensure this program is implemented in a manner that minimizes impacts to wilderness values. Because the Forest Service’s decision did not go through a public review and comment process, we believe several components of the program still need to be clarified, refined, and improved.
In particular, we see an urgent need for the Forest Service to coordinate trail prioritization with trail groups, monitor the implementation and effectiveness of work performed by outfitters, ensure the public is informed about which trails are being cleared with chainsaws and when that work is occurring, and return trails to traditional wilderness stewardship practices as quickly as possible.
Even better would be for these groups to work together to actually restore and enhance ecological conditions and re-wild portions of the Frank that have been degraded by human activity. Such stewardship efforts could include rehabilitating user-created trails, reducing the footprint of sprawling hunting and rafting camps that have encroached into sensitive areas, removing redundant fire rings around lakes, treating noxious weeds, and taking other steps that lessen human impacts and provide more space for wildlife. With Idaho’s continued population growth, there is also a clear need to expand education around Leave No Trace practices and wildlfire prevention before folks venture into the Frank (over 80% of wildfires in Idaho are human-caused).
Ultimately, a durable solution depends on Congress adequately funding the Forest Service so that it has the resources needed to both maintain trails and protect wilderness character, reducing the need for extraordinary measures such as chainsaw use for routine trail maintenance. The baseline funding required to support Idaho work crews who use the traditional tools of crosscut-saws, axes and mule trains is modest in the context of overall federal spending. The benefits to Idahoans from properly caring for the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness extend beyond clean water and abundant fish and wildlife, as well as rural economic benefits, and also include fostering deeper personal connections to public lands and the experiences and stories that endure long afterward.