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Snowmobilers arrested for wilderness trespass



By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sometimes, it pays to read the signs.



Three Minnesota snowmobilers drove their machines past the Absaroka
Beartooth Wilderness Area boundary earlier this month, mired them in
deep snow and had to hike out.



Then they were fined $500 apiece and had to hired skilled riders to
hike into the wilderness and retrieve their snowmobiles.



The three men didn't claim any ignorance of the rules, according to
Larry McKee, the Forest Service law enforcement specialist in Cooke
City who cited the men.



"They all kind of knew they messed up," McKee said Monday.



All mechanized vehicles are banned in federal wilderness areas.



"The boundary is well-posted," McKee said, adding that the three men
were approximately 1.5 miles inside the wilderness.



Their names have not been released.



Incursions have dropped significantly since McKee began doing
full-time patrols in the area two years ago, but they continue to
occur. An education campaign also has helped cut the numbers.



"We are concerned about incursions occurring this early in the winter
season," said Ken Britton, Gardiner District Ranger on the Gallatin
National Forest.



McKee said the incident took place on Dec. 12, when the three
Minnesotans did not return to Cooke City as scheduled.



"There was a search put out for them at 9 o'clock because they didn't
show up at night," McKee said.



The three riders had driven to Lady of the Lake, rode down a hillside
and were unable to climb back out, McKee said.



They eventually started hiking -- there is about four feet of snow in
the area -- and eventually hit a trail. A trail groomer found them
about 3 a.m. and gave them a ride.



Some of the searchers didn't get back to Cooke City until 6 a.m.



"It was hard on the search teams, too," McKee said.



The Forest Service determined the machines should be removed from the
wilderness, McKee said, so the men hired locals, "some guys who can
ride" to hike to the scene and drive them out.



McKee said there have been six other incursions this winter, but these
were the first citations of the year.



He was recently granted a national award for his work in reducing
wilderness incursions, which in the past have totaled hundreds of
trips a year.