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I know many of my friends and neighbors feel the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness vote is the equivalent of another “land grab.” It reduces access and use. I get this. As a conservative, I am for far less government, fewer levies, lower taxes, and against gun control (though I own no guns).

The bottom line is that trusting people to do the right thing with the environment when they have limitless freedom is problematic. They rarely do. I have seen what man does when he thinks he owes it; which of course he doesn’t. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” As a Christian, I take a broader view; that what we have is a stewardship responsibility. And as an avid hiker and mountaineer, my reasons for voting for the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness are both a personal and spiritual. This is not an issue that we should be divided over. Rather, it is one that we all ought to embrace and champion together.

DON S. OTIS

Sandpoint