Scotchmans deserve security of immediate wilderness designation

"We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder-cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander."

—Henry David Thoreau, "Spring," Walden

Without nature, without a connection to areas little changed since their creation, we are diminished in ways beyond counting. Progress becomes clutter, development becomes an affront and life is less rich, its colors muted and grayed.

We are less than what we should, and could, be.

Just as we need the jumbled diversity of cities and towns, we need places to dream, places where our souls can sour and we can see the majesty of the world — places like the Scotchman Peaks. We need to preserve these areas as they are, as they were meant to be.

Towering high in the Cabinet Mountains, Scotchman Peak looks out over Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork River. At 7,009 feet, the mountain is the highest point in Bonner County, offering unparalleled views of Idaho and Montana.

The 88,000-acre roadless area has changed little over the centuries — its craggy terrain keeping man's influence to a few footprints scattered over its mountains. The scenery today has changed little from its infancy — and that is how it should be.

Protecting the Scotchmans from our selfishness and self-absorption makes sense. Formalizing the protection and turning the Scotchmans into a wilderness area, preserved and cherished, is the least we can — not only for the land we love but for ourselves.

We need areas where we can hike and explore. We need the peace and balance offered by the solitude and quiet, where the only sound you hear is an eagle's shrill cry or the gurgle of a mountain stream. The time I spent camping and exploring with family and friends has enriched my life. I would not be the person I am without those experiences or the specialness of those places.

Areas, like people, have an identity, which must be celebrated and nourished. For the Scotchman Peaks, that identity is found in its wilderness — an identity that allows for a rich and varied number of uses, while protecting the very essence of what makes it special.

But, if you do want to look at things selfishly, Studies have shown that creation of new wilderness areas also makes economic sense. It boosts property values, stimulates economic growth and because the area's natural beauty is preserved, it draws people, jobs and resources to a region.

The Daily Bee joins its voice to those calling on the federal government to protect the Scotchman Peaks region and designate it as a wilderness area. There is no other answer, no other solution which makes sense.

If you would like to know more, if you would like to help, Friends of Scotchman Peaks will hold its first "State Of The Scotchmans" on Thursday. The open house event is set for 5-7 p.m. at the Pend d'Oreille Winery. Or go online to www.scotchmanpeaks.org/

Caroline Lobsinger is the managing editor of the Bonner County Daily Bee.