USFS Issues Crystal Cedar Project Final Approval

FAMB has some good news to brighten your day in otherwise difficult times: the Forest Service has issued its final approval for 25 miles of trail in the Crystal Cedar project in Columbia Falls! A huge thanks to everyone who submitted comments supporting this project. And our gratitude goes out to everyone at Gateway to Glacier Trails who have put a lot of time into ushering this project along.  

This project includes both recreation components (trails and trailheads) and forestry components (both commercial logging and fuels reduction). You can read the full environmental analysis of the project on the USFS website, and to read the final decision, click here.

A map of the approved trails appears below, and you can view a map of the planned logging here.

We'll begin building trails and trailheads as soon as we can, and will be working in partnership with Gateway to Glacier every step of the way. We may start on some small portions of the project as soon as this summer, but many of the trails won't be built until the logging is completed, which will likely take 3-5 years. We'll be able to start building trails incrementally as portions of the logging project are completed.  

As always, building these trails will take a lot of time, effort, and money. Watch for FAMB fundraising efforts in the future so we can get these trails built and open!