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Sen. Steve Daines made one last pitch Thursday on why mountain biking should be allowed in two Bitterroot National Forest wilderness study areas.

In a letter to the U.S. Forest Service, Daines urged the agency to either reopen the areas to mountain biking or push back its deadline for a decision so it could consider the facts he had gathered.

Forest Service officials said the agency’s final written response on the issue will be issued Monday, March 11. The agency’s response follows analysis of 3,216 public comments and a face-to-face resolution meeting with members of the local and national mountain biking communities last week.

The Bitterroot Forest closed the Blue Joint and Sapphire wilderness study areas to mountain biking last year following a court decision that upheld the forest’s updated travel plan. The decision did leave the door ajar on the future of mountain biking in the WSAs since that issue had not been studied as part of the travel plan update process.

A judge initially ordered the agency to give people who already commented time to file objections on the mountain biking issue. At the request of Daines, the Forest Service opened that objection period to anyone with an interest in the issue last September.