Vandalism a growing problem at state forest

Just north of Whitefish lays Stillwater State Forest, which encompasses roughly 93,000 acres and is the oldest and largest state forest in Montana. The forest earns revenue in support of various trust beneficiaries, such as Common Schools of Montana, Montana School of Mines, University of Montana. Revenue is earned by managing state school trust lands for agricultural and grazing leases, timber sales, mineral leases, commercial and residential leases, and recreation.

Forest management and recreational activities have existed in relative harmony for many decades and, for the most part, people use the forest responsibly. Nevertheless, negative impacts from recreational use are on the rise, particularly on the south end of the Forest.

Whether the change is due to an increase in the number of people using the Forest's urban interface or a change in the values and attitudes of the recreationists, the outcome is the same. Off-roading with motorized vehicles, littering, and vandalizing signs and closures have been the most blatant misuses. Regrettably, these abuses negatively affect the enjoyment of responsible recreationists and cost the state, and thus the taxpayers, significant amounts of money for reclamation.

In November 2007, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation entered into a volunteer agreement with The Center for Restorative Youth Justice to clean up and address some of the areas most heavily impacted by abuse.

The Center has adopted the alternative philosophy of justice and crime prevention that focuses mainly on repairing harm caused by crime and restoring relationships amongst individuals and communities. Youth offenders work off their community hours by participating in litter cleanup and restoration projects.

That is just one manner in which the state is trying to get a handle on the misuse of the highly-impacted recreational areas. Other methods include installing more signs, developing better education efforts, increasing regular patrols by game wardens and ticketing offenders, and, as a last resort, restricting motorized use in areas that receive the most abuse.

The public can alleviate some of the problems by exercising the pack it in/pack it out rule and reporting violators to the proper authorities. Ben Chappelow, a new Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden, is concentrating on trust lands in Region 1 and may be contacted at 751-4592.

Brian Manning is the unit manage at Stillwater State Forest.