Tag Archives: wilderness designation

Groups call for more wilderness adjacent to the Bob

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

MWA and Headwaters Montana are recommending additional wilderness segments adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness, mostly in existing roadless areas . . .

Two wilderness groups are recommending additional wilderness in the Mission Mountains, Jewel Basin and Swan Crest areas adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

The Montana Wilderness Association and Headwaters Montana recently released two reports on their recommendations for the Flathead National Forest, which includes 147,315 acres in the Swan Range.

Read more . . .

President wants to expand wilderness in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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President Obama wants to expand the area of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge currently designated as wilderness . . .

President Barack Obama is proposing to designate the vast majority of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drawing an angry response from top state elected officials who see it as a land grab by the federal government…

The designation would set aside an additional nearly 12.3 million acres as wilderness, including the coastal plain near Alaska’s northeast corner, giving it the highest degree of federal protection available to public lands. More than 7 million acres of the refuge currently are managed as wilderness.

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Flathead Forest Plan work renews wilderness discussion

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The Flathead National Forest’s Forest Plan revision process reawakened serious discussion about wilderness within the area . . .

Conservation groups may agree the new Flathead National Forest plan should contain recommended wilderness, but there’s some disagreement about where.

Amy Robinson, Northwest Montana field director for the Montana Wilderness Association, says her organization is focused on preserving areas that have been recommended in the past as well as areas largely adjacent to existing wilderness.

 

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Group crafts proposal for Whitefish Range area

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Over the weekend, Jim Mann of the Daily Inter Lake posted a nice article on the recently completed work of the Whitefish Range Partnership . . .

After meeting regularly for 13 months, a group of people representing a highly diverse range of interests recently signed off on recommendations to the Flathead National Forest for long-term management in the North Fork Flathead drainage.

Considering there were 30 signatories going along with a requirement for complete consensus or no recommendations at all, the accomplishment of the Whitefish Range Partnership is remarkable, particularly at a time when divisiveness dominates the national political stage. “Polarization is real easy,” said former state legislator and Secretary of State Bob Brown, who chaired the partnership. “It’s easy for politicians and political leaders to play to their own loyalists and it’s hard to compromise, but when you’re sitting across the table from someone who is your fellow community member, you see how much you have in common.”

And that’s exactly what the privately organized partnership did, meeting roughly twice a month at venues where home cooking and beer were on tap. The idea was to work through differences on wildland fire management, weed management, wildlife, timber management, backcountry trails, mountain biking and trail use, fisheries management, snowmobiling and recommended wilderness.

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Diverse stakeholders recommend Whitefish Range forest plan

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The Flathead Beacon just posted a lengthy, well-written article by Tristan Scott about the just-concluded Whitefish Range Partnership agreement.

Like the earlier Missoulian piece, this one is also recommended reading . . .

Bob Brown, a former secretary of state and longtime Whitefish legislator, pulled into the snow-caked parking lot outside Ed and Mully’s Restaurant at the base of Big Mountain, his car bearing a bumper sticker that read, “Compromise is not a Four Letter Word.”

Ever the diplomat, Brown was there to broker a meeting organized by a coalition of longtime adversaries turned unlikely bedfellows — tree huggers and tree cutters, eco-warriors and timber sawyers, hikers, horsemen, mountain bikers, cabin owners and nearly everyone else with a stake in the management of public lands on the Flathead National Forest.

They represented three-dozen interest groups who historically clashed over public land use on Montana’s forests; who for decades pitted wilderness against timber production, non-motorized against motorized recreation, commercial interests against wildlife. They were advocates accustomed to digging in their heels, entrenched in their ideologies and not given to making concessions.

Read more . . .

Whitefish Range Partnership celebrates accord

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Rob Chaney of the Missoulian posted a first-rate article about the final Whitefish Range Partnership meeting and the agreement’s significance.

Recommended reading  . . .

In the Bible’s First Book of Kings, Solomon nearly has to chop a baby in half before two women claiming to be its mother can resolve their dispute.

No swords were pulled at the table where the Whitefish Range Partnership found a way to let loggers, wilderness advocates, snowmobilers, mountain bikers, river rafters and cabin owners share 300,000 acres of the Flathead National Forest. But the roomful of longtime adversaries agreed having a Solomonic deadline actually helped them build the trust to share the land.

Last Monday, partnership members shared chili and champagne as they presented Flathead Forest Supervisor Chip Weber with their final agreement. Thirteen months in the making, the deal could help the U.S. Forest Service settle even bigger debates across the Rocky Mountains.

Read more . . .

Whitefish Range Partnership reaches consensus on Forest Plan recommendations

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The Hungry Horse News posted their article on the recent Whitefish Range Partnership meeting . . .

A group of stakeholders have reached consensus on a collaborative document for future management of the North Fork area.

The Whitefish Range Partnership has been meeting for the past several months in preparation for the upcoming Forest Plan revision process for the Flathead National Forest. The meetings were moderated by former state senator and secretary of state Bob Brown, of Whitefish.

Most stakeholders said the process went well.

Read more . . .

Whitefish Range Partnership reaches consensus; includes wilderness!

Environmental Issues, News,

Quite a few North Forkers were down-valley yesterday for another Whitefish Range Partnership meeting. This was the big one: a vote on the entire package — everything from motorized recreation to trails to timber production to wilderness. Amazingly, they pulled it off. It is truly astonishing that this broad a coalition of interests was able to agree on a package concerning so many contentious issues. The final wind-up – and a big feed – is in mid-November.

Debo Powers wrote up the big event . . .

After over a year of meetings, negotiations, and writing reports, the Whitefish Range Partnership reached consensus Monday night on the final document containing recommendations concerning the Whitefish Range.  These recommendations will go to the Flathead National Forest as they begin the process for creating the new Forest Plan.

The Whitefish Range Partnership is a group of citizens, representing a wide diversity of viewpoints, who worked collaboratively to come up with a unified position.  The group includes loggers, hikers, snowmobilers, dirt bikers, mountain bikers, backcountry horsemen, anglers, hunters, wildlife lovers, wilderness advocates, and North Fork landowners.

The collaborative process worked well under the facilitation of former Republican legislator, Bob Brown.  The final report covers fire mitigation, fisheries, timber, trails, weeds, wildlife, motorized and non-motorized recreation, and wilderness.  The plan includes something for everyone.  After listening to each other for a year, the group was able to come to agreement on even the most controversial issues, such as wilderness and snowmobile play areas.  Ten North Fork landowners played a significant role and attended most of the meetings.

The final report will recommend wilderness in the Hefty/Tuchuck/Thompson-Seton/Nasukoin areas in the northern part of the Whitefish Range with a one mile fire mitigation buffer between wilderness and private land.  The report also recommends a new snowmobile play area around McGinnis Creek and new mountain bike trails most of which are in the southern portion of the Whitefish Range.  The full text of the agreement will be available on the NFPA web site soon after the final Whitefish Range Partnership meeting in mid-November. Printed copies will be placed at Sondreson Community Hall and other locations.

Larry Wilson: North Fork wilderness debated

Commentary, Environmental Issues, News, ,

Larry Wilson talks about the issue of wilderness designation on the North Fork and forest management in general . . .

Last fall, I wrote about the formation of a group which named itself the Whitefish Range Partnership. Their goal was, and is, to write a draft Forest Plan for the Whitefish Range to present to the Flathead National Forest as they begin the process of writing a new plan for the entire Flathead National Forest.

The group has met twice monthly since last fall, with many committee meetings in between. Also meeting with the group have been Glacier View and Flathead Forest officials who acted as resource support. There have also been presentations by other resource folks with special expertise, like wildlife experts Tim Their, Jim Williams and John Weaver.

With a lot of give and take, the group has completed and agreed on most issues, including timber, fire, river corridor and wildlife until only one issue remains — wilderness…

Continue reading . . .

Larry Wilson: Much of North Fork is already ‘wilderness’

Commentary, Environmental Issues, ,

Larry responds to yet another op-ed on the North Fork wilderness issue . . .

I had never heard of a “liberal conservationist” until that label was applied to me by Matthew Chappell in a recent letter to the editor in the Hungry Horse News.

My opposition to a wilderness on the Whitefish Range led Mr. Chappell to believe that I oppose all wilderness and want motorized vehicles to be allowed everywhere.

He supposes that I might want a parking garage at Polebridge and maybe even a Pizza Hut on Trail Creek.

In fact, his suppositions are just so much horse apples. I do not oppose all wilderness. I do oppose a Whitefish Divide Wilderness for what I believe are good reasons.

Continue reading . . .