NORDIC SKIING -- The Forest Service has moved a popular skiers cabin at Chief Joseph Pass to the the agency's nationwide rental system and started charging a fee, but officials compromised and lowered the overnight rental rate from $20 to $9 for this season after a protest by disgruntled members of the Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club.
The club spent nearly two decades developing the cross-country ski trails in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Montana, and in 2001, raised $100,000 to build the Gordon Reese Cabin at Chief Joseph Pass. They felt betrayed when the Forest Service denied them free access to the cabin.
See the story by the Ravalli Republic: USFS relents a bit on cabin rental in Montana national forest
