The Sawtooth National Forest is considering reopening an area north of Fairfield to snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles, as elk the agency intended to protect seem to be moving on.

For two decades, the area along the Upper South Fork of the Boise River from Couch Summit to Fleck Summit and west to Featherville has been closed to motorized use each year between Dec. 1 and April 30.

The closure was intended to shelter wintering elk, which need to conserve their energy over the cold season and are easily spooked by engines. But, in a development state biologists are researching, the elk appear to be wintering farther south and west in flatter areas.

“There’s a lot going on in there right now,” said Regan Berkley, regional wildlife biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

A dwindling herd was buttressed with elk from Yellowstone National Park in the early part of last century, and winter feeding stations were set up shortly after to help out the new, confused animals, Berkley said. But it wasn’t until four to six years ago — several generations later — that the elk began migrating to areas with more accessible food and shallower snow, relying less on feeding areas, she said.

Now, elk that Fish and Game collared at the feed sites have moved out to the Camas Prairie and west toward Mayfield. The move could be in response toseveral factors, she said, including recent average-to-mild winters and the presence of wolves.

“(What’s happening now) is probably what those elk should have been doing all along,” Berkley said, noting it’s good to see elk using natural forage.

The state agency is now watching to make sure the moving elk don’t cause problems with landowners on the Camas Prairie.

Meanwhile, the shift has led Fairfield District Ranger Mike Dettori to consider opening the closed area. According to the scoping letter he sent out, snowmobiles and other over-the-snow vehicles could be allowed in a corridor from Couch to Fleck summits. No road plowing would be allowed.

Dettori is also considering restricting some or all of the area around the river’s headwaters to protect wintering mountain goats and wolverines. He also wants to correct an “apparent error” in the Sawtooth Forest Plan that categorizes the area as “primitive,” a label that does not reflect reality, he wrote.

The area is dotted with private land, and landowners and their guests are already allowed to travel through the closed federal land. Dettori told the Times-News that letting the general public in would make things more equal.

“It’s not making a lot of sense,” he said of the private/public discrepancy. “It compounds the issue.”

Dettori is taking public comment through March 22 and will hold open houses in Gooding, Mountain Home and Fairfield next week. He said he could have a decision as early as the fall and as late as next year, depending on how controversial the proposal becomes.