Donations
Your tax deductible donation is greatly appreciated and will help build and manage trails in the area.
May 2011
Upcoming Events
May 29: Leave No Trace event at Crazy Creek Chairs
June 4: National Trails Day (clean up and maintain trails in Red Lodge)
June 4: Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation & US Forest Service Mapping training (in Red Lodge) for weed management projects this summer. Larry Whitney (322-0205)
June 11: Mason’s Mountain Run at the Lions Camp on Lake Fork (www.umdf.org/masonsmountainrun)
National Trails Day, June 4
Celebrate National Trails Day by helping BRTA with final construction and cleanup of the Airport Trail on Saturday, June 4th from 9am to 1pm. We’ll have plenty of jobs for all age levels and abilities including trail sign, bench and garbage can installations, trail repair, and trash cleanup along the trail. Bring your work gloves, shovel, rake, and clippers. Meet at the Rodeo entrance off Highway 78 at 9am. Groups will be organized from there. BBQ/potluck will be held at the end of the day. Burger, brats and drinks provided by BRTA. Please bring a simple dish to share. Contact Tom Kohley at (406) 425-2071 or info@beartoothtrails.org. You can contribute to Red Lodge’s 2.5-mile loop trail and have a good time too!
Learn the Basics of Topographical Maps, June 4
Learn about contour intervals, quadrangle, datum, declination and degrees. Use a map and compass to help with route-finding, giving directions, etc. Join Grant Barnard at the corner of 15th and McGillen in Red Lodge, 3:00 pm June 4, after you have volunteered on a maintenance project on National Trails Day. Call Grant at 425-0130 for more information. (Bring a compass and a Red Lodge East or a Red Lodge West USGS quadrangular map if you have them—not required).
Hiking Trails Near Red Lodge
Friends and relatives coming? Or you’re new to the area? Have a business in Red Lodge? You might like a copy of Hiking Trails Near Red Lodge. This one page brochure gives simple and complete directions to 13 hikes in the immediate area. Find the brochures in businesses all over Red Lodge, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Red Lodge Carnegie Library, and on the BRTA website. Email Grant at telemark@imt.net if you would like brochures at your business.
Rock Creek Slalom Kayak Race, June 11
This upcoming kayak race will start at the Red Box Car Restaurant and finish at the south end of Rotary Park at Rock Creek in downtown Red Lodge. Racers will have to pass through a series of slalom gates hanging above Rock Creek in a timed event. For more information or to volunteer to help, please contact Nate Winning at (701) 789-9894. Whether you challenge the water, volunteer your time and energy, or just enjoy the event as a spectator, this is sure to be fun. This event is sponsored by the Beartooth Paddlers Association.
Just for Fun….
Some of our BRTA Board Members were quizzed about a “little known fact” about themselves. See if you can match up the name with the fact. Answers at the bottom of the newsletter.
Select from these members: Bill Foisy, Corey Thompson, Jim White, Mary Johnson
Modeled western apparel in Paris and London ___________________________
Co-authored a book: Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes ___________________________
Co-founded a backpacking group called Gore-Tex Mafia ___________________________
Favorite pet was a Basset/Corgi named Floyd ___________________________
Newly Acquired BLM Land near Meeteetse Spires
By Grant Barnard with input from Tom Carroll of the BLM
July, 2010 saw the final stage of purchase of the privately owned South Fork Grove Creek Canyon by the Bureau of Land Management with $2.65 million of Land and Water Conservation Funds. There is also a small, new cabin on the property that is currently used and maintained by Rocky Mountain College for wildlife monitoring through an agreement with BLM. This beautiful pocket of canyon land is about five or six miles south of Red Lodge as the crow flies. Access from Red Lodge is via the unmaintained Meeteetse Trail (County) Road; and from Belfry and Highway 72, via Grove Creek Road (Tolman Flat USGS Quad. map).
This section of land is surrounded by BLM, Montana State, and US Forest Service Lands. The Forest Service’s newly re-built Face-of-the-Mountain Trail will connect the canyon to adjacent FS and BLM property. This trail and the existing road give the public greatly improved access to their public lands.
The addition of the South Fork Grove Cr. Canyon (560 acres) completes a block of four-plus sections (1520 acres) of BLM land commonly referred to as the Meeteetse Spires. As the term suggests, this area is loaded with uplifted Madison Limestone cliffs and jagged points of outstanding beauty. The sister canyon, North Fork Grove Creek, is very similar, and the Meeteetse Spires area is classified as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) by the BLM. Besides aesthetics and wildlife habitat, this area is also home to the rare plant shoshenea pulvinata (“Shoshone carrot”).
The ACEC designation is a nice fit with the adjacent Research Natural Area (RNA) of the USFS on Line Creek Plateau, and helps protect the land from some uses and abuses. For example, the BLM can prohibit cattle grazing. But these designations do not protect from oil & gas exploration nor mineral mining (such protection would be partially accomplished if the BLM is able to buy out existing mineral rights, which it is pursuing). The BLM has some discretion in allowing or disallowing oil & gas exploration, but, as we know, that can fluctuate with mandates from high up in the Dept. of the Interior. The best protection would be Wilderness designation by the US Congress, so plan to support the BLM in classifying the Spires area as “wild lands”. Stay alert for public comment to the BLM on such issues of land management policy.
Only a few years ago the South Fork Grove Cr. canyon was privately owned and slated for development into small parcels. When the BLM would not grant improved access across public land, the owner turned to selling to the BLM. That giant step in the right direction was the first step in protecting this unique and spectacular small canyon. The next step is awareness… then solid protection.
Ski Season?
The ski season may be over for many of us but one board member of BRTA is still thinking snow. Les Hedquist (the guy in charge of the Winter Trails program) recently ventured to West Yellowstone to check out a snowmobile that is a model being considered for the Red Lodge Nordic Center. This may not seem that unusual but mid-May is not usually when someone thinks of test-riding snowmobiles. Not only did Les ride the snowmobile but also spent a few hours with Doug Edgerton in his Pisten Bully while grooming 15k of the Rendezvous Trails in West Yellowstone. It was an eventful couple of days as Les groomed, observed, skied, and motorcycled. Yes, it’s true, Les rode his motorcycle from Red Lodge to Gardner through the park to West Yellowstone. How many places can a guy ride his motorcycle to play in the snow?
Supporter Spotlight
Grant Barnard has been a teacher, counselor and coach in the public schools. As an Outward Bound instructor, he taught backpacking, rock climbing, and river canoeing. He currently teaches nordic, alpine, & telemark skiing. He also bicycles, ice climbs, rides horseback, and has backcountry skied for 35 years. His favorite thing to do is climb something steep and ski down it. Grant is in his sixth year as President of BRTA. “I love making opportunities for people to recreate in a healthy way on their public lands”, states Barnard.
Forest Service Updates
Call or stop in at the Beartooth Ranger District office in Red Lodge for current information on trails and roads in the Beartooth Mountains, 446-2103. At this time, many roads and trails are still choked with snow. Rivers and streams are high, fast and cold, and will get much more intense, so be aware!
Quote of the Month
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Always consider yourself welcome at BRTA monthly Board meetings, second Wednesdays, at the RLACF building, (13th & Oakes, across from Post Office), 6:30 pm., or call your favorite Board member to learn what’s up with BRTA.