Reviving treasured trails of Montana

During summer, visitors are returning to the treasured trails that make Montana famous for its outdoor recreation.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, arguably one of Montana’s greatest gems, is a huge wilderness area in the west of the state. Located along the Rocky Mountains, the Complex is made of the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Great Bear Wilderness. The Complex is co-managed by the Helena-Lewis and Clark, Lolo, and Flathead National Forests and spans over 1.2 million acres. It provides habitat for grizzly bears, Canada lynx, Shiras moose, mule deer, bull trout, and elk.

Before and after photos of trail restoration of the popular Landers Fork Trail. This trail is on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in central Montana. This project was made possible through the Legacy Restoration Fund established by the Great American Outdoors Act. (Forest Service photos by Elinor Fisher)

The Complex is also home to more than 3,400 miles of trails, and maintaining these trails at various elevations in the wilderness combined with overgrown vegetation throughout is a daunting challenge. To address this extensive deferred trail maintenance, the Forest Service is working with partners to build capacity to meet our greatest maintenance needs.

Last summer, with the help of the Montana Conservation Corps, the Forest Service restored access to the Landers Fork Trail, a popular trail that connects the Complex and adjacent lands to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Access had been lost due to vegetation overgrowth impacting the safety and accessibility of the trail itself.

Further west, with the help of Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, the Forest Service was able to install a new trail puncheon in a section of the trail that had been washed out during a flood. A puncheon is a wooden walkway that elevates a trail over a section that has washed out.

Work for these trails is made possible through partner support and the Legacy Restoration Fund established by the Great American Outdoors Act. This historic piece of legislation was passed in August 2020 and is responsible for addressing deferred maintenance needs of all types of Forest Service infrastructure, from bridges to roads to trails to recreation facilities, as well as proactively addresses the agency’s deferred maintenance backlog estimated at $7.7 billion.

The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest is currently addressing nine deferred maintenance projects totaling $11 million through the Legacy Restoration Fund that will improve several roads, trails, and developed recreation sites across the Forest. The Lander Fork trail preservation and Mineral Creek trail’s new puncheon are part of a wider, coordinated effort to address the nearly $5 million worth of deferred maintenance in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and adjacent lands.

“While work continues in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, we also have a few forest-wide projects taking place this summer,” said Recreation Program Manager Rory Glueckert. “We’ve got a great group of employees and partners engaged in this work and are looking forward to seeing what we will accomplish.”

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