Candidate Wants Condon to Have More Voice; Emergency Services Comments on Forest Service Plan

SWAN VALLEY - Republican candidate for the Missoula County Board of Commissioners Todd Geery of Bonner, Mont. spoke at the Swan Valley Community Council (SVCC) meeting Aug. 16. Swan Valley Fire Chief Randy Williams and Quick Response Unit (QRU) Medical Chief Dan Maloughney also commented on the issues they see with the proposed Flathead National Forest (FNF) Plan.

Geery said his reason for joining the race is a deep passion to make a difference for all 111,000 residents of Missoula County. “I don’t want to be a politician, which can become a job. I want to be a representative for the residents of Missoula County,” Geery said. He said he has been in construction and other businesses and “it is a big stretch to go from that to politics. I see a need for it [entering the commissioner race].”He said he could do a better job listening to the residents of Missoula County.

Geery said, “Outlying areas [around Missoula] are ignored and always outvoted on issues.” He said issues are decided without any input from those it affects, the residents aren’t seen or heard. He added he wants to build a file of contact names in these areas; people he can contact when issues pertaining to them come up.

Geery said he understands what it is like to be ignored by government. In 2006, when the Blackfoot River was cleaned up after the Milltown dam was removed, he asked Senator Max Baucus and Environment Protection Agency project manager Diana Hammer for his property (located at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork) to be monitored for contamination. Geery was assured that it would be but, he said, it never happened. He said that during the clean-up, 50 feet of his property fell into the Blackfoot. After several attempts to contact them, he said it was never addressed by the Missoula County Commissioners.

SVCC chair Ken Donovan asked Geery if the SVCC should be granted agency status by the county. They currently do not have agency status. “We can’t go directly to the agencies we have an issue with such as Montana Department of Transportation, Department of Natural Resources [and Conservation], [or the] U.S. Forest Service (USFS). We have to write out our grievance or concern and then it goes to the commissioners who may change it before they send it to the proper agency.”

Geery said that if SVCC did have agency status it would eliminate red tape on the issue, give the community more voice and they would get the answer directly, not through the county.

Geery is concerned about Missoula County Commissioners who did not hold any public comment period before they sent Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard a letter offering to take 100 refugees and opening an International Rescue Committee refugee settlement office in Missoula. Geery said they receive entitlements in one month. “We (the United States) can’t endure the burden. We have a responsibility to American citizens. There are veterans on the streets. It is not right to put [the refugees] before our people.” Geery said. “We need to leave them [refugees] where they are and help them where they are, help fix their communities.”

In other business, Chief Williams and Maloughney spoke about how the FNF Revision Plan options, one of which includes lowering the wilderness to the valley floor, would affect the emergency services in the Swan Valley.

Williams said that the USFS lets the fire burn if it starts by natural causes in wilderness. However, he said the USFS will fight it if it is manmade.

“We [local volunteer fire department] don’t have the resources to stop a wildfire [that’s out of control]. We need to write letters to the forest service to get it [revision plan] stopped or we [Swan Valley residents] are in deep trouble.”

Geery said, “The Forest Service needs to practice proper fire management. To move the wilderness line down closer to houses is not proper management.”

Maloughney said that the QRU has gone into the wilderness past the gates to attend to injured persons. In one case, the patient had to be air lifted 100 yards out of the wilderness and then the QRU took him out from there. He added if the wilderness is extended, the access time would be lengthened because the QRU would have to go in on foot or horseback. “It is a life or death situation,” he said.

Both Williams and Maloughney said that currently the volunteer fire department and the QRU can get to the scene quicker than the Seeley-Swan Search and Rescue, the USFS or the Department of Natural Resources. Williams said that they don’t hesitate to begin the initial attack and put in long hours to fight the fire.

Chair Ken Donovan said that the first and foremost option should be community safety. “We need to rely on our trained local volunteers,” he said.

The discussion turned to how the community could communicate their concerns about the FNF plan revision.

Swan Valley resident Jimmy Boyd said, “The community’s common ground is love for area and open spaces and concern for public safety. We need grassroots representation to manage our lands. We don’t know what the future holds. We need to leave it in the hands of future generations who live in the Swan Valley.”

SVCC member Marcia Tapp said that the deadline for public comment on the FNF plan revision is Oct. 3. “Time is of the essence [to be heard]” she said. “After the Oct. 3 deadline, the Missoula County Commissioners will be our voice at the USFS table when they make the final decision about the plan.”

The SVCC voted to send a letter to the Missoula County Commissioners regarding their stand on the FNF plan revision to not extend the wilderness toward the Swan Valley floor.

SVCC secretary Loretta Thomas suggested that the SVCC have a letter writing session in which the community could express their concerns to the USFS about the FNF plan revision.

The SVCC agreed that the session would be held Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. Volunteers would call community members. It was agreed that a fact sheet on the plan would be available at the session along with maps, sample letters from other groups and a list of federal, state and county officials to whom the letters will be sent.

For more information to comment about the revision plan, search Flathead National Forest at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/

The next SVCC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall.