Help Stop the Forest Service from Weakening Wilderness Protections in Montana

The U.S. Forest Service (FS) is proposing to significantly weaken wilderness protections for Recommended Wildernesses on the Flathead National Forest in Montana. Your help is needed by Feb. 22 to convince the agency to instead maintain wilderness standards and so protect these Recommended Wildernesses.

Current FS policy states, “Mechanized transport and motorized use are not suitable in recommended wilderness.” The reason for the policy is to avoid creating a conflict that might make it harder to designate the areas as Wilderness or a reliance on management actions that would conflict with wilderness stewardship once an area is designated.

However, the supervisor of the Flathead National Forest wants to change the 2018 Flathead National Forest Plan to allow the use of helicopters, motor vehicles, chainsaws, and other motorized tools in the 190,403 acres of Recommended Wilderness on the Flathead for cutting, planting, seeding, and burning to propagate whitebark pine. This is part of an increasing pattern by the FS in the Northern Rockies to meddle and manipulate designated Wilderness and Recommended Wilderness for various reasons.

Specifically, the FS proposal would retain the ban on public use of motorized or mechanized vehicles, but would waive the ban for administrative actions like those proposed for the whitebark pine projects. 

While whitebark pine protection and recovery is important, such restoration must not occur in ways that degrade the wild character of Recommended Wilderness or designated Wilderness. To manipulate and trammel areas for whitebark pine restoration in the ways that the FS wants, the FS must look to areas outside of Recommended Wilderness and designated Wilderness.

Please contact the FS by February 22 to oppose the proposed changes to their Recommended Wilderness policy.