The U.S. Forest Service is accepting public comments on a proposal by the City of Missoula to breach the dam on McKinley Lake in the Rattlesnake Wilderness in Montana. The 15-foot-high dam was built on a natural lake a century ago in order to increase water for downstream irrigation and municipal use. Because the dam is in poor condition and the water is no longer used for either purpose, the city—which owns the dam—is proposing to breach it and return the area to its natural condition.
Removing the dam is a great idea. But it is also important to the integrity of Wilderness how the work gets done. The city's proposal calls for using a helicopter to deliver a motorized drill (for drilling holes in the earthen dam for placing explosives) and a few other small pieces of motorized equipment, allowing workers to drive motor vehicles on an old jeep trail for a couple of miles within the Wilderness to shorten the hike to the dam, and using pack animals to haul other supplies to the workers while the work is in progress. It is entirely possible to do the work the "wilderness way," that is, accessing the site on foot or horseback, packing in all supplies and using traditional, non-motorized tools to breach the dam. The dam was built without motorized equipment, and much larger projects in Wilderness have been accomplished without modern machinery.
The Forest Service justifies the use of helicopters and other motorized equipment arguing the work must be done in one season and other options don't offer that possibility. However, an independent engineer with decades of experience using traditional skills for trail and other projects in the backcountry has estimated a crew of ten could complete the project in no more than 30 days and at a fraction of the cost the city has estimated it will spend on its current plan.
The city owns the dam and has a 100-year-old easement that gives it the right to maintain or remove the dam. The legislation that established the Rattlesnake Wilderness granted the dam owner the right to "necessary motorized use" over existing trails to operate and maintain the dam. But since the dam is on national forest land, the Forest Service has some say in how the dam is accessed and the kinds of work that is done on site.
This is where your voice comes in. The Forest Service has the authority and responsibility to set the terms and conditions for access to the dam and what occurs around the dam in the course of its removal. As the public stewards of the Rattlesnake Wilderness, the Forest Service needs to encourage the city to explore and implement feasible means of non-motorized alternatives to breach the dam and to provide assistance to the city in doing so. This is especially important because the city owns dams on seven other small lakes in this Wilderness, and this McKinley Lake project is presented as the pilot project for dealing with the other dams. As a pilot project, it is especially important to establish the feasibility of doing the project the right way in Wilderness.
Your letters are needed by Friday, August 11, 2023 to urge the Forest Service to ensure that the city removes the McKinley Lake dam the right way in the Rattlesnake Wilderness. You'll need to submit your comments through the Forest Service planning website at: https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public//CommentInput?Project=63564. |
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Use your own words, but consider including the points below:
I support removing the McKinley Lake dam in the Rattlesnake Wilderness, but the work to remove the dam must be completed in a wilderness-compatible way that respects the integrity of the Wilderness.
The Forest Service should fully explore and encourage the city to implement a non-motorized alternative for breaching the McKinley Lake dam and provide assistance to the city in that regard. Motorized use isn't "necessary" and shouldn't be allowed.
The assumption in the analysis that the work can't be completed with hand tools within a single season lacks merit, as does the limitation that work can't begin until the lake reaches its lowest level in the Fall. Cutting a breach in the dam can begin earlier in the summer as the lake level is dropping and work can basically follow the water level down. This greatly expands the work season and makes doing the work by hand in one season easily feasible.
There is an important public interest in preserving Wilderness and the skills required to work in Wilderness. The Forest Service should provide its expertise and resources to ensure this project is completed in a wilderness-compatible way.
Since this is a "pilot project" that will set the tone for how the other dams in the Rattlesnake Wilderness are breached, it is especially imperative that alternatives to motorized equipment are thoroughly analyzed and implemented. |
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