Wilderness designation would restrict uses

There are many reasons to oppose the proposed Scotchman Peaks wilderness, including the poor process leading to the proposal, forest and wildlife management issues, restrictions of previous uses and increased federal regulations. The Forest Service in their 13 year Forest Plan process, which led to the wilderness recommendation, never held a single local hearing in the closest communities, which they are required by law to do. The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness in more than a decade of campaigning for this wilderness, never held a single public meeting in the local areas to find out what residents would or would not support, until the residents of Clark Fork, which is only 3.5 miles from the proposed wilderness, requested a meeting in January of 2017. The majority of residents who spoke at that meeting were overwhelmingly opposed to the wilderness. The previous Bonner County commissioners, our closest elected representatives, endorsed this wilderness and even described wide-spread support for the wilderness, yet never asked local city councils or residents what they thought about the wilderness. After being left out of the process, the Clark Fork City Council voted unanimously to reject the wilderness last year.

The lack of forest and wildlife management in wilderness, due to either Forest Service policy or environmental extremist lawsuits is a big reason to oppose this wilderness. In wilderness, nature is left to take it’s course. Disease and insect infestations are allowed to run rampant, killing large numbers of trees and causing increased wildfires in all of Idaho’s wilderness. Most fires are not fought in wilderness and big game herds in Idaho wilderness have plummeted due to the loss of habitat. The use of helicopters for wildlife management was ruled incompatible with wilderness last year by a federal judge in Boise. Idaho already has 4.8 million acres of wilderness, which is 9% of the state. The last thing Idaho needs is more permanently non-managed forest, left to decay and burn. For these reasons, the Governor of Idaho, the Idaho Legislature, our US Representative, Idaho Fish and Game, all Idaho Fish and Game Commissioners and the premier wildlife and habitat conservation group in the US, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, are opposed to new wilderness anywhere.

A wilderness designation would severely restrict previous uses in the Scotchman area. The Forest Service first began to manage Scotchman with wilderness-like restrictions in April of 2015, even though the Wilderness Act of 1964 states that only Congress can create wilderness, not the Forest Service. Prior to April of 2015, snowmobiling, snowbiking, bicycle wheeled game carts and chainsaws to cut out pack trails were legal and commonly used in Scotchman. A wilderness designation would make the current restrictions legal and for perpetuity.

Wilderness gives the Forest Service broad powers, including the authority to ban the mere possession of firearms, camping equipment or stock, a power they do not have outside wilderness. Unelected federal bureaucrats should not be allowed to decide if we can enjoy our civil rights on public land. There are many other rules and regulations that come with wilderness, including group and animal limits. The nearby Cabinet Wilderness has a group limit of eight, one of the smallest in the nation.

If you believe that Bonner County residents are the most important stakeholders in this issue, that we don’t need more non-managed forests in Idaho, that we don’t need more government regulations on our public lands in our county and that our public lands in this county belong to all of us, please vote “against” May 15, on the Scotchman Peaks wilderness question!

Stan Myers is a fourth-generation resident of the Hope and Clark Fork area and is an avid hiker and hunter.”