Introduction from the new BSC head

My name is Craig Wagner and I have just been elected to the Bigfork Steering Committee as Chairperson. I thought maybe those of you who don't know me would like me to introduce myself to you. I am an enrolled Blackfeet Indian in Browning, MT.

I was born in Arizona as my parents worked for the BIA and Indian Service. During WW ll, my father who could not enlist due to a hearing problem, went to work for an aircraft factory and we settled in California but coming to Montana every summer we could be with our relatives and culture. This continued after I married with my wife and children. We both remember Kalispell when Montgomery Wards was where Alpine Lighting is and where Woolworth was, and Kmart, wow Kmart, now that was a big deal!!!

We left California as a winter home in 2002 and moved to our present house here in Bigfork on January 2, 2003 (don't recommend that again). We love Bigfork and its uniqueness and we want it to stay that way but we also understand we have to manage growth as it is happening. Seeing what has happened in California, Utah and Idaho in our travels back and forth over the years we realize what we have here is precious and must remain that way. We can do that with your help.

We need all members of this community including Ferndale, Woods Bay, Swan Lake and anyone who aligns with Bigfork to help us in this endeavor. Apathy set in a few years ago and now we have some problems, a neighborhood plan to revise, developments allowed, a sewer system which is at almost full capacity and we have to think of the future.

We need your help, thoughts and suggestions. We meet every Thursday at Bethany Lutheran Church at 12:00, we post our minutes every week. We have a web site, www.bigforksteering.org. You can contact me : 837-1037, Indnchf@montanasky.net or pwagner121@montanasky.net Please feel free to do so.

Craig Wagner

Bigfork

Speak out on NREPA

With approximately 80% of our land in Montana's Flathead County and with ever more limited access to these, supposedly, Public Lands, our citizens have cause for alarm over the threat of additional closures and restrictions of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, HR 1975. Apparently the reality and ramifications of turning 23 million acres into wilderness lacks comprehension or understanding as exemplified by the rational shown in this bill under Title VI, Section 2. The Findings presented, in support more wilderness, are extremely misleading, if not absolutely untrue.

The NREPA bill constitutes a threat to our economy, and to the health and welfare of not only our citizens but also to the forests themselves which provide the watersheds, the timber, wildlife, landscapes and recreation opportunities that we treasure for ourselves, for visitors and tourists. All elements are essential and cannot be achieved or maintained by closing off ever more of these lands to "wildlands" as they existed prior to pioneer times and early settlement. Actually the forests are more extensive now with more abundant wildlife than existed when the West and Northwest were discovered.

Unfortunately changing policies of the U.S. Forest Service over the past decade has destroyed the original purpose of federally managed forest for the multiple use and enjoyment of the public. Contrary to the popular beliefs of uninformed people in other parts of the country, close-down of these lands and exclusion of human access has proven detrimental to the forests themselves. They have become overgrown with insufficient water and nutrients leading to bug infestation, dead, down and dying timber and limited wildlife. Less browse areas for animals drives both the carnivores and their prey out of the forests into lowlands. Fuel laden forests burn in horrendous wildfires consuming not only the timber but the wildlife, producing air and water pollution, soil erosion, mud slides, and loss of watersheds.

Passage of HR 1975 would permanently place 23 million additional acres under the accidental and often destructive action and behavior of Mother Nature. Humans are blessed with the technology and capability to productively and profitably utilize and PROTECT the natural resources that Mother Nature provides for us. We actually need MORE and BETTER management by trained forest specialists and technologists who will protect and preserve the health and growth of the timber.

Profitability is an essential part of the equation. Lack of revenues from our forests in combination with management by neglect has placed tremendous financial burden on taxpayers for fire-fighting, forest restoration and social services at federal expense to compensate for loss of incomes. Flathead County which had historically maintained prosperous communities now is dependent upon a construction industry for incoming people bring their money with them, social services such as health care, education and agency services largely now being provided or subsidized through government funding.

The tourist industry largely touted by NREPA supporters, cannot begin to replace the previous timber industry which had financed not only the human populations and their needs, but also the care and maintenance of the forests. Those who proclaim untouched, so-called wild and scenic wilderness or "wildlands", are not in touch with economic reality that a well managed environment, free of fire, is far more attractive to residents and visitors alike.

I urge our citizens to carefully analyze this entire bill and urge our elected officials to oppose it.

Clarice Ryan

Bigfork