Free to sled: Snowmobilers have access to Milner Trail

Dec. 8—GRANGEVILLE — Snowmobilers wishing to use the Milner Trail that stretches from Mount Idaho to Florence in Idaho County will have full access to the route following the removal of a gate and gate posts that had been blocking the trail on private property.

Idaho County Commission Chairperson Skip Brandt said Wednesday that he received a call from Alan Lamm, who owns property along the Milner Trail and who has been the subject of controversy since erecting a gate across his property in September. Brandt said Lamm told him that he has instructed another neighbor to remove the gate posts, which is expected to be completed today or Friday.

Last week the commissioners held a public meeting attended by about 100 people to try to resolve the dispute. Snowmobilers claim the Milner Trail is a historic route and they have always had full access until Lamm put up his gate. But Lamm said he put up the gate in response to recreationists who have been abusing the route through private property. A few other landowners also verified Lamm's claim that recreationists have been reckless and abusive at times while crossing their property on the Milner Trail.

By the end of the hearing the two sides appeared to be working toward a compromise that would involve diverting the section of the route that crosses Lamm's property onto a nearby trail located on U.S. Forest Service land. Cheryl Probert, supervisor of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, is scheduled to meet with the commissioners next week to discuss the matter. The commissioners have set Dec. 20 as a tentative date to make a decision.

Lamm told Brandt on Wednesday that he and two neighbors gave their permission for the trail groomer to cross their property as long as the work on the alternative route continues. That means, Brandt said, that snowmobilers will have access to the Milner Trail until the matter is resolved.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.