Policy

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Celebrating The Wilderness Act of 1964

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Last Friday we hosted a Wilderness Rendezvous along with the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation, Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness Foundation, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, and Wild Montana. A celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964. If you’re a wilderness advocate, you’ve surely heard of this wonderful act with the sole purpose to “establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes.” To read the entire act, head over to Wilderness Connect. Read on to learn more about the five characteristics of wilderness.

Natural

Wilderness ecological systems are substantially free from the effects of modern civilization.

Examples of what degrades this quality:

loss of native species, pollution, water flow changes, climate change

Solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation

Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation.

Examples of what degrades this quality:

facilities including outhouses and cabins

restrictions on visitors

visitor sounds

sights of people outside of the wilderness (ie. city lights in skyscape)

Undeveloped

Wilderness retains its primeval character and influence, and is essentially without permanent improvement or modern human occupation

Examples of what degrades this quality:

admin buildings, weather facilities, any other structures

use of motorized or mechanized transportation

inholdings (places that are private in the midst of public land)

Untrammeled

Wilderness is essentially unhindered and free from the actions of modern human control or manipulation

Examples of what degrades this quality:

authorized actions that manipulate or hinder the community of life (ie. fire suppression, weed spraying, collared wildlife, stocking fish)

Other features

Wilderness “may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.”

Examples of what degrades this quality:

damage or loss of these features (ie. vandalized hieroglyphs, burned historical buildings)

Celebrating 60 Years

After learning about the different characters of wilderness quality, can you think of examples within the Great Burn proposed wilderness that have these characters and some areas that have been negatively impacted? Some of these negative impacts can be managed and improved. During our stewardship trips, we learn a lot about wilderness character, LNT practices, and backcountry ethics, all while getting some work done on the landscape.

Make Your Voice Heard: How to Advocate for the Great Burn

Advocating for public lands, especially wilderness is not only important, it’s also a very rewarding experience. However, knowing where to start and how to ensure your voice is heard can be difficult. One of the best, most impactful ways to get involved is submitting a public comment. Public comments are crucial for developing the management of public lands,  ensuring that all perspectives are taken into account and holding the Forest Service and other agencies accountable for their actions.  

With the new Forest Plan for the Lolo National Forest currently under development, submitting a public comment is especially important, as it could dictate management decisions for the next 20-30 years. 

Your Voice Matters

In September, 2022, the Flathead National Forest released a proposed plan to significantly expand the size of the Holland Lake Lodge North of Seeley Lake, Montana, a little more than a two hour drive from the Great Burn. During the ensuing public comment period, the Forest Service received thousands of comments, almost all of which opposed the project. Two months later, Flathead NF rejected the proposed expansion.

There’s more to the Holland Lake story, but, suffice it to say, the comments worked. When it comes to advocating for public lands, almost nothing is as powerful as a public comment. It’s a good reminder as the comment period for the Lolo National Forest’s Proposed Action nears its end date on April 1st.

We Need Your Help

The Proposed Action is a draft of what will become the Lolo National Forest’s new Forest Plan, the guiding document for the National Forest and what will dictate how the Forest is managed for at least the next 15 years, but probably more—the last time there was a new Lolo Forest Plan was 1986. Every project and decision the National Forest makes for the next generation, and every animal, tree, river, and lake within its boundaries will be impacted by the new Forest Plan. 

GBCA has been heavily involved in the planning process since it began in 2022, but as Holland Lake showed, there’s no substitute for public voices. We need your help to speak up for the land and the wildlife that call it home. Large, intact landscapes like the Great Burn are becoming increasingly rare, and face numerous threats, and opportunities for quiet recreation, like the kind that can currently be found in the Great Burn ecosystem are fast disappearing. From climate change to overuse, vulnerable species and their habitats need to be protected.

Write a strong comment

Putting together a strong comment that the Forest Service will listen to can feel overwhelming, but with these tips you can ensure your voice will be heard.

Tell them what they’re doing right

There is a lot to like in the Proposed Action, and it’s important to let our land managers know when they're doing a good job. We are excited that the Proposed Action maintains the existing boundaries for the Great Burn Recommended Wilderness. We also want to show appreciation for the FS designating 21 rivers and streams as eligible for Wild and Scenic River protections. 

Let them know what needs work

Although there’s a lot of good in the plan, let the Forest Service know there are ways the draft plan can be improved. We have highlighted a couple important changes: 

  • Recommend the Ward-Eagle inventoried roadless area and Upper North Fork-Meadowcreek inventoried roadless area as Wilderness. Currently these areas are classified as non-motorized backcountry, but deserve “recommended” status for their outstanding wilderness characteristics and wildlife habitat value.

  • Prioritize wildlife habitat connectivity and corridor areas. The entire stateline area is key for large landscape connectivity, as well as more local elevational connectivity.

  • No non-conforming uses in recommended wilderness. By maintaining the no mechanized or motorized use mandate in recommended wilderness areas we can ensure these areas remain eligible for permanent protection in the future.

  • Include Fish Creek and the South Fork of Fish Creek as eligible for Wild and Scenic River Designation

Make it your own

The Forest Service will often dismiss or downgrade identical comments. The best comments come from those who include how government action affects them. Point to how wild places are important to you, or how strong conservation efforts are tied to your values. Don’t be afraid to make it yours.

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Nez perce-clearwater forest plan falls short

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On November 28th, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest made public the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Record of Decision, and Draft Final Plan. Disappointingly, the Nez Perce-Clearwater Forest Plan is designating only 108,276 acres of the 151,874-acre Hoodoo roadless area as recommended wilderness, opening nearly 40,000 acres of crucial wildlife habitat to snowmobiling and mountain biking.

The plan proposes excluding two significant segments from the Great Burn recommended wilderness: a northern portion from Fish Lake extending north to Hoodoo Pass and a southern area encompassing Blacklead Mountain and Goat Lake. These areas offer some of the most valuable wildlife habitat within the entire forest. The decision to exclude these areas from recommended wilderness status was unfortunately influenced by the aim to legitimize ongoing illegal snowmobile use in an area that has been suggested for wilderness protection since 1987. Furthermore, the proposed plan includes opening trail 738 along the stateline to accommodate mountain biking.

The final draft plan also lacks specific guidelines for protecting vulnerable wildlife species such as wolverines, mountain goats, and grizzly bears.

Why is this important?

The Hoodoo Roadless Area, commonly known as the Great Burn, stands as one of the largest and wildest unprotected roadless areas in the contiguous United States. It spans the Idaho/Montana border and 2 National Forests totaling roughly 252,000 acres. Its significance on a national scale is underscored by the Forest Service, which has consistently recognized its wilderness value, advocating for a Wilderness designation since the 1980s. The area also received one of the highest possible ratings during the RARE II inventory completed in the 1970’s. 

This region provides a critical wildlife corridor connecting the Crown of the Continent and Selkirk-Cabinet Yaak ecosystems with central Idaho’s wildlands and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It is home to native  mountain goat herds as well as many recovering and species of concern, including lynx, fisher, wolverine and  rare native trout. It is also a key corridor for the recolonization of grizzly bears in the US Fish and Wildlife  Service Bitterroot Ecosystem Recovery Area.  As it stands, the plan contains no binding wildlife standards necessary to ensure species survival.  

The Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest is in the final stages of Forest planning. The decisions made now will have lasting impact on the entire Hoodoo Roadless Area for decades to come.

Wolverine

Mountain Goats

Mountain goats along the stateline trail #738. Photo courtesy of Alex Kim

Many people feel snowmobiles do not have a lasting impact on the Forest landscape. We strongly disagree with this concept. Research has shown that subnivean snow layers can be crushed, impacting fragile plant and animal communities below.

Fish Lake is part of the area being opened to winter motorized use in the new Nez Perce-Clearwater Forest plan.

This forthcoming forest plan will dictate the management of the nearly 4 million acre Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest for the next 20-30 years. It's imperative that the entirety of the Hoodoo Roadless Area, totaling 151,874 acres in Idaho, be managed as Recommended Wilderness. 

What’s next? 

There's still an opportunity to influence the contents of this forest plan! A 60-day window is now open for submitting "objections" to the plan, allowing stakeholders to propose alterations before the Forest Supervisor's final approval. Objections are due by January 29, 2024. Although the Forest Service is technically obligated to consider objections only from individuals who participated in previous stages—such as the scoping phase in 2014 or the Draft Environmental Impact/Draft Plan phase in the winter of 2019 through the spring of 2020—there's a collective encouragement for all interested parties in this planning effort to voice objections. This collective action aims to demonstrate substantial opposition to the proposed plan to the Forest Service.

Following the objection period, the Forest Service is mandated to conduct objection resolution meetings within 90 days. Those who have submitted objections and previously provided comments will receive invitations to these meetings. This presents a crucial opportunity to directly convey concerns to the Forest Service and participate in the resolution process.

Have questions? Feel free to reach out to Hayley@greatburn.org for more information.


Lolo Forest Plan Update

This month, staff and board members have been busy engaging with the Lolo Forest Plan Revision. This plan will guide management decisions on the Forest for decades to come, and we want to ensure that it contains strong protections for wildlife and wild places in the Great Burn.

In the past month, we’ve done the following work to influence plan outcomes:

  • Attended planning events and a roundtable workshop with Forest Supervisor Carolyn Upton

  • Hosted Forest Service decisionmakers on informational field trips in the Great Burn

  • Worked with rural community partners to secure collaborative support for wilderness values

  • Submitted comments on the Draft Assessment and Species of Conservation Concern List

Right now, the Forest is scheduled to begin “scoping” this fall. This process is designed to get public feedback on what management actions are needed, and it’s a great opportunity for concerned citizens (like you!) to get engaged in the process.

If you would like to learn more about forest planning, we recommend looking through Lolo’s “Meeting in a Box” website. This helpful resource contains short background pages that explain how the plan will deal with a wide range of topics, including climate change, connectivity, wilderness and more.

Supporting Grizzly Recovery

In 2020, the Montana legislature passed a law requiring the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to seek approval for grizzly bear release sites. In the past, grizzlies were released wherever managers thought was appropriate.

For the safety of the grizzly bears, the bear managers, and the public, it’s critical for managers to have as many approved release sites as possible. No one knows what the weather or road conditions might be at any given time or place, and grizzlies need to be released shortly after they have been captured, not after the weather or road conditions improve. It’s also important to be able to move grizzlies as far away from problems as possible to reduce the likelihood that a bear will return. Finally, it’s important that some release sites should be available in areas where the grizzlies might be able to travel into other grizzly core areas to ensure that the population retains genetic diversity.

With this in mind, we recently submitted a comment in support of grizzly bear relocation sites 208 and 188, which are in the Ninemile Valley close to the Great Burn. You can view our comment letter here.