From what I read about the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (BCSA), there is very little local opposition to adding another 70,000 acres of wilderness to the millions that we already have. I must wonder what local they surveyed? How did they know the political affiliations of all those surveyed? Why would that be pertinent in a survey unless one was trying to justify a result that might not necessarily be valid?
It is very nice that we have people coming from all over the world to go into the wilderness but we have people that LIVE HERE that do not have the ability and/or resources to do the same. When land is designated as wilderness, there is an automatic permanent exclusion of the majority of the PUBLIC from THEIR OWN land.
The public has been very generous in ceding use of millions of acres to the many wilderness areas that surround us so that the natural heritage not be lost to development. How much more is needed? It appears that the BCSA and Montana Wilderness Association find no reason to stop until all of Montana is designated wilderness.
Access of the general public to THEIR public lands has been on a continuous downward spiral for many years now. Roads and trails used by local residents for years have been signed, gated or remediated (destroyed) by well meaning but overzealous keepers of the keys of our public lands.
Signs posted on almost all of the gated areas of OUR forest indicate that one of the reasons for closure is to give others a feel of the wilderness experience. What happened to The Bob, The Scapegoat, etc?
When exclusion of the general public is desired, apparently all one must do is to create a wilderness study area or find someone, somewhere to agree we need more of a preferred plant or animal species and decide it can only flourish here. The area then can exclude all but the healthy, wealthy and physically fit that can walk through this precious terrain but eliminate the horrible terror that the elderly and handicapped would inflict on the area.
Obviously, I was not included in the survey but then dissent was not what they were interested in.
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