Attending: Scott Burnham, Denley Loge, Jim Lommen, Ray Rugg, Jim Arney, Dale Harris

RAC meeting minutes

Mineral County RAC meeting June 3, 2003, 6 p.m., commissioners' meeting room.

RAC members attending: Scott Burnham, Denley Loge, Jim Lommen, Ray Rugg, Jim Arney, Dale Harris, Pat Hayes, Wendy Ninteman, Dennis Hildebrand, Gordon Hendrick, Phil Donally, B.J. McComb. Others attending: Rob Harper (Ranger, Superior District), Garry Edson (Ranger, Nine Mile District), Jim Schultz (citizen), Glenn Koepke, Mike Gullette (RAC applicant), John Q. Murray (note taker).

Next informal meeting with beer: Tues. July 8, 6 p.m., John Q. Murray's house. Directions coming separately in the meeting reminder mail.

Next official meeting as the RAC: Tues Aug. 5, 6 p.m., commissioner's meeting room.

Action items

Rob: Review Hiawatha NEPA document. Prepare list of next year's potential Title II projects for August meeting.

Denley: Contact Roger Hearst about taking "before" pictures of the Maynard Loge trail.

Pat: Prepare an economic profile of Mineral County for RAC members. Update the Title 3 application form to explicitly list allowed project categories, and to include a signature sheet for commissioners.

Abstract

The group discussed whether to form a separate group to discuss Title III projects. County

B.J. McComb noted that the commissioners asked the RAC to provide guidance on Title III projects and on the amount of money that commissioners should allocate to Title II and Title III. The consensus of the group was to proceed as the RAC.

The group discussed potential development of the Route of the Hiawatha as a mountain bike trail, and as one segment of a countywide trail system. The group also discussed motorized use of the trail, and postponed further discussion until Rob Harper can review the existing NEPA documents for the trail. The group discussed convening of a focus group, as one of the three types of groups providing input for the Lolo forest plan revision. The consensus was to invite only those environmentalist groups who choose to be willing, active participants in the process.

Rob reported there are 8 applicants for 4 available positions on the RAC.

Detailed description

Title III: RAC or Natural RAC

Pat explained his memo about the "Natural RAC". In response to objections from Cliff Walker that the RAC should not discuss anything other than Title II projects, Pat had suggested renaming the group. Dale said he liked Pat's plan as a fallback position if the group's work on the forest plan revision, timber harvest, and access issues. Rob suggested that if the group chose to dabble in Title 3, they could go ahead and do so until they are told to stop. Pat reported that he had a 1-hour meeting with Mike Byrnes, unable to attend the meeting. The commissioners want the RAC to solicit, review, and recommend Title III projects. They want a ranking but also want to see all of the projects, and an explanation of how the RAC arrived at its ranking. Rob said that the legislation states such projects are to be sent to the RAC if one exists in the county. B.J. noted that the commissioners also specifically asked for help, on the premise that many heads are better than three. Rob said he was worried about the group getting burned out by taking on additional tasks, but if you want to, go ahead.

To solicit Title III applications, Pat said he would advertise in the Wagon Wheel and would send letters

Attending: Scott Burnham, Denley Loge, Jim Lommen, Ray Rugg, Jim Arney, and Dale Harris

asking for applications from groups that may be interested. They have already received one proposal for

GIS, and Bill Woodford has indicated that he wants to apply on behalf of the schools for a TALES project.

Pat said the intent of the application form was to keep it simple, direct, and to the point. He was asked about the part of the form asking whether the applying organization is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization. Pat said that allows leveraging other funding sources. Rob suggested listing the categories and making it clear that they were non-negotiable, that the projects must fit the criteria. He also recommended attaching an approval sheet for the commissioners' signatures.

Dale asked how the contracts were going on the approved Title II projects. Rob reported that timber has been sold for the Dry Creek trailhead project, but that they are working on the contracts and should have them ready within a week or two. Denley reported that the soil conservation district had a potluck work party at the Maynard Loge trail last week, and that Roger Hearst will take pictures.

Denley reminded the group that the county commissioners want guidance on Title II and Title III amounts, and it would be useful to see the types of projects coming in at the August meeting.

Hiawatha Trail

Pat reported that he and Wendy Ninteman represented the RAC on a bike ride along the Hiawatha Trail with Dennis Kennedy; a USFS official from Washington, D.C. Pat wore his Lycra speedos. "The good thing about spandex is you can keep it for years and it still fits." Rob reported that Kennedy is on day 8 of a 1 a-day tour of South Dakota and Montana. They toured the route of the Hiawatha on the Montana side, similar to tours for congressional staff last year, providing camp coffee with cookies along the ride to Saltese, then a picnic barbecue at Savenac. The people accompanying Kennedy said he was as enthusiastic about the Hiawatha project as any he had seen on his trip, and that he had been looking at some pretty spectacular country. Rob thought it might be possible to direct some U.S. Land and Water Conservation Funds to the project.

Wendy said that she understood that the Hiawatha project had fallen off the list at the national level and may require some political help. It was possible to do---she noted that her Mount Sentinel project had also fallen off the list and it was eventually funded. The project must show broad community support, including some funding from the community. Rob said easements from Jim Davis and the other landowner would cost about $300,000. That the county commissioners support removing 188 acres out of the tax base also demonstrates significant support in a county with very little private land, Rob said.

The group discussed whether motorized travel (motorcycle, A TV) should be allowed on the Montana side, as is presently in the agreement. If so, alternate days could be designated for motorized, non- motorized uses; B.J. suggested Mon- Thurs for non-motorized and Fri-Sun for motorized use. Denley and Rob pointed out that other parallel routes are available for motorized travel, but aren't marketed. Denley cited the state line road. Jim -Arney said there have been discussions about restoring the old railroad bridge that crosses into the Trestle Creek Golf Course, and creating trails through the golf course that would extend the trail system to Sloway. But the golf course would want to restrict the trail to non-motorized use. They also discussed whether the agreement affected snowmobile travel. Jim Schultz asked about horses. The group discussed whether they should present a united front, and postpone discussion on motorized/non-motorized until after obtaining funding. Rob said he would review the NEPA documents, and the decisions that were made 8-9 years ago.

Wendy said she would need an answer on motorized/non-motorized before approaching other groups for support. She couldn't ask an outside constituency to support it, without knowing how it would be used. Dale said on a Missoula project, the bikers, hikers, fire department and horse groups all agreed to "not-

Attending: Scott Burnham, Denley Loge, Jim Lommen, Ray Rugg, Jim Arney, and Dale Harris

talk" about it. They would get the funding first, then fight about how it would be used.

The Idaho side gets 20,000 visitors per year. Pat said while they were there they saw visitors from North Carolina, Virginia. Since the trail h~ been opened over the Memorial Day weekend, over 1,000 paid visitors have already traveled the trail. An Idaho group, www.friendsofcdatrails.org, 208-752-4721, prepares maps of the trails. Rob encouraged the group to think bigger than the trail and to consider it as economic development and as a chance to bring 20,000 visitors into Mineral County. The Montana side of the trail is twice as long as the Idaho side. The trail could support small businesses selling food and small bike parts. He recommended that it would be best to defer until we can look at the decisions that were made in the NEPA doc.

Pat said he would like to see a trail from Alberton to Lookout Pass, a trail system from one end of the county to the other. Each year 40,000 rafters go down the Alberton Gorge. Timber money is not going to be the future of this county, though because most of the county is federal lands, its future must involve natural resources on national forest lands. The trail is a piece of the bigger picture. Members asked for a detailed economic and demographic profile of the county.

Forest Plan Revision

The group discussed the RAC's role in providing input on the forest plan revision. Chuck Sperry of the forest plan revision team, at a previous RAC meeting, discussed 3 possible groups: place-based communities, interest-based communities, and focus groups. Rob recalled one of Chuck's slides that showed the groups as molecules, "like a spider with slippers on."

Rob said he thought the most valuable groups would be the issue-based groups, especially the snowmobilers.

The RAC would be classified as a place-based community, Pat suggested. Chuck was hoping to keep the ranger districts as administrative units.

Pat reported that the community foundation is starting to look at convening a focus group to see how we might affect the forest plan. It would be about two dozen people, mostly from Missoula and Mineral, with additional people from the Seeley and Plains districts, and would include some environmentalist groups. Some are willing to sit down at the table and discuss issues. They are not wedded to a hard line that would preclude them from participating in a focus group.

Dale suggested getting together informally with beer to get to know one another and to discuss fire, logging, restoration, and access issues. "We should build on what we've done [with the RAC]," he said. He noted that Montana Wilderness Association has been in negotiations with the Montana Wood Products Association and the Montana Logging Association for the past four months. The discussions involved several mills, Stoltz Lumber, Pyramid, and Smurfit-Stone, and could be expanded to include Tricon. Dale criticized other environmental groups, saying that they should not be invited to the table. They're not a willing partner.

Pat said he believed in inviting people to meet together. "Like Wendy, I have more faith in it than brains." Dale suggested that he had lost his faith in some groups, although he still has great respect for the individuals, such as Tom Platt and Jennifer Ferenstein. But some environmentalist groups are elitists, he said. "I was in this town [Superior] in 1972 for a listening session for the Great Bum. I liked this place, and made a commitment to reach out and shake hands and get to know the people of this county, he said. But I don't see that from some other environmentalist groups. They're elitist. They just sit behind their computer screens. They don't get out."