Articles

Articles concerning Wilderness appear frequently in Montana news publications and other publications nationwide. Following are summaries of such recent articles.

Trout Unlimited buys 4,900 acres on the Rocky Mountain Front
2007-04-13 - Trout Unlimited has purchased 4,900 acres of natural gas drilling leases on the Rocky Mountain Front and will seek to have them permanently retired. This is the second time in a year that the organization has accepted leases. In June 2006, Questar Corp. donated several oil and gas leases on the Front, which will be returned to the Bureau of Land Management and retired. Trout Unlimited officials are hoping that its new acquisitions from Donald Epperson, a private energy investor from Helena, will also be retired. (Great Falls Tribune)

Talks yield 4,300-acre conservation area: Familes put ranch into Front easement program
2007-02-06 - Some of the best grizzly bear habitat on the Rocky Mountain Front has been protected from future development by a Nature Conservancy conservation easement. The agreement covers the 4,354-acre Hager Ranch west of Dupuyer, eight miles north of the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area and close to other conservation-easement-protected private properties, including the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch. (Great Falls Tribune)

Congress permanently bans new oil and gas leases on Rocky Mountain Front
2006-12-09 - A permanent ban on oil, gas and mineral exploration along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front was included in a last-minute package of tax breaks and other legislation that has cleared Congress. "This is a major, major victory for Montana. We've been working to pass meaningful protections for the Rocky Mountain Front for 30 years," said Montana's Sen. Max Baucus, who added the provision to the larger tax package in the final days of the Senate session. "We finally got it done. We finally protected the Rocky Mountain Front forever. Thirty years from now, our kids and grandchildren will thank us." The drilling provision makes permanent a 1997 moratorium on Rocky Mountain Front exploration and makes it easier to retire existing leases. (Great Falls Tribune)

Wilderness proposal gets county support
2006-03-15   Momentum appears to be building for North Idaho's first federally designated wilderness area in the Scotchman Peaks east of Sandpoint. Buried in a letter sent to the Idaho governor earlier this year was an unprecedented statement from the Bonner County commission expressing support for the idea. "Its steep slopes, remote valleys, grizzly bear habitat and possession of the highest point in Bonner County all support its inclusion as wilderness," stated the letter signed by the county's three Republican commissioners. The statement was in a letter to the governor regarding management of the county's roadless national forest. "Needless to say we were pretty excited," said Phil Hough, Chairman of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.  "They could have not said anything. But they took the opportunity to put themselves on record."  (The Spokesman-Review)

Roadless Areas Under Siege: Conservationists adopt choice local areas
2005-09-11   The Scotchman Peaks region north of Lake Pend Oreille is among the darlings of Idaho's unofficial wilderness areas and has been adopted by conservationists as part of the Idaho Conservation League's Adopt-A-Roadless Area program.  It is a grass-roots approach to putting a local face on some 235 pristine regional landscapes that often get lumped into a 9.3-million-acre heap. Each person has promised to visit his or her adopted area, learn about the unique values of that landscape and increase public awareness about the threats to it.  The Scotchman Peaks adoption is leading to a more formal wilderness campaign.  (The Spokesman-Review)