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Commissioner Kelly’s letter of April 7, heralding the “season of hope” for the Scotchman Wilderness, also apparently heralds the beginning of the annual propaganda season from the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. The letter curiously uses the similar gushy rhetoric that we see in most of the support letters.

Kelly hopes that this year, the wilderness will be approved. If you ask our senators, they will tell you there is zero chance of this passing for Idaho only, as the Idaho portion is very irregular, less scenic and, of course, contains the old clearcuts and roads that have magically converted to wilderness in a mere 30 years and, should cause one to ask, just what we are protecting the area from, as it obviously can’t be logging? More people in western Montana support high paying logging and mining jobs versus the minimum wage seasonal tourist jobs of Sandpoint, so good luck there.

The Scotchman trail is in Idaho and that is the real issue here — without it, there would be no hoards using the area and, thus, likely far less support for wilderness. This all backfired last year, when the trail was closed due to the hoards attracting too many goats (but surely joining FSPW the next day). Perhaps this year, the goats will be sporting vests advertising FSPW and reelection of our commissioners, but you’ll have to go see them early, before the commissioner-favored tourist season kicks in full gear and the trail gets shut down again.

STAN MYERS

Hope