SWAN VALLEY - I would like to offer a response to the Pathfinder’s Sept. 1, 2016 article “Swan Valley Emergency Services Expresses Concerns with Forest Plan Draft.”
In 1989 I lost my home to fire and am grateful for the response by the Swan Valley Volunteer Fire Department. Since then I have made monetary donations (when I can) and in-kind donations. I appreciate and value the efforts of local volunteers who donate time to help homeowners like me. However, I feel compelled to address some of the misinformation and half-truths that are being spread around the Swan Valley dividing community members.
According to comments made by Mr. Boyd, he seems committed to spreading inaccurate information and using fear mongering and hyperbole with local residents about forest management practices on our public lands. He is a relative newcomer to the Swan Valley and is not “the voice” of the Swan Valley.
Regarding potential wilderness designation for the Swan Front:
1. Flathead National Forest (FNF) Draft Forest Plan alternatives do NOT bring wilderness down to the valley floor. See maps: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd509646.pdf
2. The Swan Front proposed wilderness is outside of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) for the Swan Valley.
3. Wilderness designation for the Swan Front proposed wilderness does not limit recreational opportunities (unless you want to allow people to fly helicopters up to Upper Rumble Lake for an hour of fly fishing, or have easier motorized access through the Swan Front to illegally trespass into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, or chase down mountain goats until they drop from exhaustion just “for the fun of it”).
4. Wilderness designation doesn’t always restrict mechanized use. The Wilderness Act of 1964 (PL 88-577) Sec. 4(d) states: … such measures may be taken as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.”
As landowners we can enhance community safety by taking steps to create defensible space around our homes and have homeowner’s insurance. We need to support trained professional firefighters and fire managers at both the state and federal level in developing reasonable fire plans and conducting planned ignitions to reduce the threat of fires reaching the valley floor. The more wildland fires we suppress the more likely conditions for the “perfect storm” will occur one day where “catastrophic fires” may reach the valley floor and burn structures.
Regarding Mr. Boyd’s statement about “the abandonment of the culture and history of the Swan Valley,” he neglected to consider the perspectives and traditional fire management practices of the Salish and Pend d’Oreille Indians who occupied these lands thousands of years before the arrival of non-natives.
Also, in the late 1970s Swan Valley resident Bud Moore and other local conservation-minded people conducted a backpacking reconnaissance into the Swan Front to assess and make recommendations for wilderness suitability as part of the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) inventory. Their resulting report to the Forest Service recommended the Swan Front for wilderness designation.
Montana has a rich heritage and commitment to our wildernesses thanks to champions like US Senator Lee Metcalf, Cecil Garland, a business owner in Lincoln, Mont. and esteemed biologists John and Frank Craighead.
According to studies conducted by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR), University of Montana, some of the dominant economic drivers in Montana are ranching, farming and tourism (both motorized and non-motorized). Just this year visitor attendance at both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks reached record levels. These visitors travel through the Swan Valley and spend time and money here. Outfitters’ livelihoods depend on wilderness and other wildlands like the Swan Front. An outfitter study done by ITRR in 2007 found the economic impact in Montana to be “slightly over $110 million.
Wilderness and places like the Swan Front are important to many local residents as evidenced by the 2014 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act hosted in Seeley Lake. It was the largest celebration for wilderness in the United States that year.
The National Wilderness Preservation System is a legacy set aside for present and future generations to enjoy recreational opportunities like angling, ethical fair chase hunting and non-mechanized travel by horseback or “boots on the ground.” In the face of threats posed by climate change, wilderness provides valuable ecosystem services – protecting watersheds where our drinking water originates and serving as a baseline to monitor ecological conditions.
It deeply saddens me to see a few local voices divide our community by spreading inaccurate information and using tactics like intimidation, disrespect and disruption at public meetings directed towards some local citizens, speakers and public employees.
My hope, as a long-time Swan Valley resident and landowner, is that we can use the Blackfoot Challenge as a model for our future land management where reasonable, informed people work together, not against each other.
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