Jesus statue on Big Mountain saved

A special-use permit for a statue of Jesus on the side of Big Mountain has been reauthorized by the U.S. Forest Service.

Flathead National Forest supervisor Chip Weber announced Jan. 31 that he reauthorized the permit for The Knights of Columbus Council No. 1328 of Kalispell. The permit allows the statue to remain standing on a 25-by-25-foot parcel of Forest Service land near the top of Chair 2 at Whitefish Mountain Resort for 10 more years.

"I understand the statue has been a long-standing object in the community since 1955, and I recognize that the statue is important to the community for its historical heritage based on its association with the early development of the ski area on Big Mountain," Weber said.

The statue's historic value and eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places is in part directly linked to the current physical location of the statue, he noted.

The statue was placed on the side of Big Mountain in 1953. Last fall, a Wisconsin-based atheist group, Freedom From Religion Foundation, asked that the Forest Service deny renewing the Knights of Columbus' permit, which expired in 2010.

The atheist group, which claimed it received numerous obscene and threatening hate mail through e-mails and social media following its request, claimed the statue violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution by promoting religious doctrine.

Numerous local supporters, including the Knights of Columbus and Whitefish Mountain Resort CEO Dan Graves, who recently helped make repairs to the statue, claimed the statue was erected to honor World War II veterans.

That point was disputed by Whitefish resident Ian Cameron, who cited newspaper articles at the time the statue was erected.

A land swap between the federal government and Whitefish Mountain Resort was proposed by Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg to allow the statue to remain where it is. According to the draft legislation, the Secretary of Agriculture would convey the land currently used for the statue to the resort in exchange for the same amount of land given to the federal government.

Rehberg's solution proved unnecessary. The Forest Service's decision to renew the permit was reached following an environmental analysis process for categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act.

As part of the process, the Flathead Forest accepted public comment from Oct. 19 to Dec. 8. About 95,000 comments were received and reviewed, and the comments did not identify substantive concerns related to environmental conditions.

Documents associated with the special-use permit reauthorization are available online at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/flathead/projects by clicking on the "Knights of Columbus Special Use Permit Reauthorization Project" link.