Wrong groups are being blamed for bear's woes

To: U.S. Forest Service and whomever else it might concern:

I read your article in the local newspapers stating your “plan to save the Selkirk grizzlies.” What a bunch of garbage. I am an outdoor enthusiast. I have been hiking, hunting, berry picking, fishing high lakes and take Sunday drives in the hills since I was big enough to walk. I have never encountered a grizzly or caribou or wolf. The only grizzly I have have ever seen was in Yellowstone Park, where they encounter plenty of people, cars and noise. If these so-called environmentalist groups feel these animals are threatened, then they are the ones doing it. You can’t be sitting behind a desk claiming this truthfully. You would have to be out where the animals are — harassing them.

How can you keep people from enjoying “God’s greatest gift?” With the economy the way it is, why are you wasting time and money on this stupid project? You should be doing more so families can still have family time together doing good, clean fun. I am proud to say I am not an overeducated, simple-minded person who has nothing better to do than cause heartache and misery to the majority of people. If you close the forest, that means you close it for everybody, including the environmentalists and the Forest Service.

I feel the Forest Service is apparently out of sync with the rest of the world and what it is supposed to be doing, which is to manage the forest with good fire control, logging, wood cutting, etc. The forest can’t be managed only for the chosen few.

Oh yes, I’m sure it was all those early settlers with motorized vehicles who almost drove the grizzlies to extinction. Give me a break.

RACHEL MONTGOMERY

Sagle