The U.S. Forest Service has granted a rare exemption allowing the use of chainsaws in one of the country’s largest wilderness areas.
The agency on Wednesday approved a request from the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association to temporarily use gas-powered chainsaws to clear about 542 miles of trails in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, citing “extraordinary levels” of downed trees. The Frank Church, in central Idaho, is the largest contiguous wilderness area in the lower 48 states.
“This action is necessary to restore safe public access while minimizing impacts to wilderness character and remaining fully compliant with the Wilderness Act of 1964,” Amy Baumer, a spokesperson for the Salmon-Challis National Forest, wrote in an email.
Trees blocking trails
Trail crews typically rely on hand tools such as crosscut saws in designated wilderness areas, which are among the most protected public lands. The Wilderness Act prohibits motorized vehicles and equipment to protect places “untrammeled by man” and to preserve “solitude.”
These exclusions have long been interpreted to include chainsaws, though the Forest Service grants occasional exceptions, usually after wildfires or major storms.
But the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association (IOGA) petitioned the agency last year, arguing that decades of wildfire and disease have created an unmanageable buildup of fallen trees. A Forest Service survey last year estimated between 80,000 and 110,000 trees lying along one 150-mile stretch in the Frank Church.
“Almost half the trails in this wilderness area on the Salmon-Challis are unusable,” said Erik Weiseth, the executive director of IOGA. “Over time, they will just be overgrown and disappear. That is not only hurting our outfitter members, but it's also hurting the general public. It's hurting their ability to access the wilderness.”
Weiseth said the blockages have meant lost business for outfitters who can’t get to the spots where they’re authorized to run hunting or guided horseback trips. Volunteers and a shrinking Forest Service workforce have struggled to keep trails open with hand tools, he said. He also pointed to language in the law specific to the Frank Church wilderness, which directs the agency to clear trails annually “to the maximum extent practicable.”
What’s allowed in wilderness?
In a letter on Wednesday, the nonprofit Wilderness Watch asked the Forest Service to delay implementation until 2027 to allow time for judicial review “before the wilderness is overrun with chainsaws.”
George Nickas, the executive director of the Missoula-based organization, called the authorization “just blatantly illegal” and said the organization is considering legal action.
“Getting in there with chainsaws to clear all these trails – it's all about domination. It's all about our controlling what's going on there, our wanting to change the character of the wilderness to meet our demands,” he said. “That's just the antithesis of what the Wilderness Act is all about.”
The group said it learned of discussions between IOGA and Forest Service officials, including Chief Tom Schultz who is from Idaho, through public records requests. It criticized the agency for not allowing public comment before the approval.
Nickas said the decision could have implications beyond Idaho. Public records reviewed by the group indicated outfitters in Wyoming asked the agency to allow battery-operated chainsaws for trail maintenance.
In 2019, the Forest Service approved chainsaw use in two wilderness areas in Colorado. Wilderness Watch sued, and the agency later withdrew the proposal.
The authorization by the Forest Service in the Frank Church allows licensed outfitters to use chainsaws for three years from Jan. 1 through Aug. 1 each year.
Weiseth said that by Wednesday afternoon, authorized outfitters were already in the forest clearing logs.
“This is a big deal to these guys. They've been wanting to get some of these trails open for a decade or more,” he said. “They threw their stuff in the truck and started driving to the woods, ready to go.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
