Coalition sought to battle changes in trail maintenance funding

Mack Long is hoping that people who love to explore Montana’s backcountry on national forest trails are paying attention to what’s coming out of Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Forest Service has approved a new model for deciding where funding set aside for trail maintenance will go.

Instead of putting the emphasis on the miles of trail requiring maintenance, the new model instead places more weight on the number of people who use the trail system.

The end result is that more money will end up on trails that are nearer to urban populations.

"My thought is that it doesn’t seem right to me that we should be willing to just let this reduction happen without the people of Montana having any say," Long said. "I think our trails and our access to public lands are just as important as anyone’s."

By PERRY BACKUS of the Ravalli Republic

Full Story: http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_7f8e2a84-e8b4-11e5-9c8d-33e7100dacb9.html