Travel Plans

The Lewis and Clark National Forest began the process of updating the travel plan for the Rocky Mountain Front in 2005.  The travel plan guides all travel, recreation, and other uses on the Front for the next two decades, specifying routes for hikers and horseback riders, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles (ORVs).  In 2006, the Lewis and Clark National Forest decided to split the travel plan for the Front into two different decisions. 

Both plans were developed over many years with numerous public meetings and oppurtunities for public comments.  At every oppurtunity, Montanans and the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front overwhelmingly urged the Lewis and Clark National Forest to adopt a plan that favors traditional use, such as walking, hiking, and horseback riding.

Late in 2007 the Forest Service released the final travel Plan for the lower two thirds of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front.  This plan keeps the Front largely the way it is now and protects wildlife by emphasizing traditional uses of the Front such as horse and foot travel.  It also serves as the basis for the proposed Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act.

In 2009, the Travel Plan for the 130,000 acre Badger-Two Medicine was released.  This plan continues an emphasis on traditional recreation, balances opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking and packing, protects private land from illegal trespass, and checks the spread of noxious weeds.   The Badger-Two Medicine is sacred to the Blackfeet, who have twice passed tribal resolutions urging that the new travel plan return the Badger-Two Medicine to a protected, non-motorized area.