Not all outfitters opposed to wilderness

We read with special interest your recent article that headlined, “Outfitters and Guides Association Opposes New Wilderness.” My wife and I own and operate Bob Marshall Wilderness Outfitters and we feel it is important to make known that many outfitters and guides do in fact strongly support new Wilderness. As was stated in the previous article, the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association’s (MOGA’s) comments were centered around their concern for degrading trail conditions in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and on other public lands which took precedence over their long history of supporting Wilderness.

For purposes of the Flathead Forest Plan, these two topics of wilderness and trails, need to be separated. Protecting critical landscapes and Montana’s intrinsic values should be of utmost importance. The Forest Plan will be in effect for 15 to 20 plus years. Not protecting these valuable lands now would jeopardize the integrity of those values and lessen the value that they would provide for future generations of Montanans. Not all lands need or should be Wilderness, but for some areas with special attributes it should be. We only have a small window of time to take action on these wild lands.

Trails are certainly a challenging issue. Between the wildfires, winter storms, spring runoff and beetle kill, trying to maintain trails for the public to access our public lands is nothing short of a monumental task. Budgets to the Forest Service for trails have been decreasing for 20 years. At present, an additional 30 percent reduction over the next 10 years is proposed. It is increasingly more difficult for the Forest Service to properly manage our public lands when they are not funded properly. Nature has thrown us a significant challenge only to be met with fewer dollars, fewer skilled personnel (trail crews) and higher expenses.

Frustration over trail conditions contributed to Montana Outfitters and Guides Association statements they submitted on the Flathead Forest Plan. We get that, but we personally feel that protecting these wild landscapes as wilderness outweighs the challenges we face with maintaining trails. We need to work collaboratively to address the serious trails issues and soon. Adding the proposed wilderness as outlined in the Flathead plan is the fabric for how we paint the future for generations to come. Without the public land, we have very little to work with.

Mack and Connie Long

Bob Marshall Wilderness Outfitters

Charlo, MT