The lawsuit claims that following the brouhaha the Forest Service “decided to stop managing the four trails as National Forest System trails.” The suit also lays out a long paper trail showing how, prior to the blowup, the agency had for years been defending public access on trails like the Lowline Porcupine and East Trunk despite some landowners' attempts to “obstruct, interrupt, and block public access.”

“Forest Service leadership has stated that these trails are public, yet somewhere along the line their tune changed,” said John Sullivan, chair of the Montana chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, in a press release. “We have no intention of standing idly by while this faction engages in the very behavior it has deemed irresponsible.”

New trail

The legal action comes as the Custer Gallatin National Forest has begun work with an adjoining landowner to create an alternate route for the Lowline Porcupine Trail on the west side of the Crazy Mountains. The first phase of building the new trail was scheduled to begin in July. For now that work will move forward, Daley said.