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but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
--Samuel Adams - Leader in our Fight for Independence
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but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." --Samuel Adams - Leader in our Fight for Independence Peter's Ridge |
Is this the way to save the environment?Click on a picture to see it enlarged.
Scott Daumiller from Kalispell, MT remembers picking huckleberries with his dad on Peter's Ridge 30 years ago. Since it is close to Kalispell it was a popular berrying and snowmobiling site. Although there are no roads on Peter's Ridge it is not within a wilderness area. Scott remembers the trail as "no larger than an average game trail." But Scott says it now resembles a war zone. "Hundreds of trees were dropped across the trail. One was 30 inches across the stump. Every few yards, huge trenches were dug." The trail to Peter's Ridge was never an official FS trail although it has been used for many years. Part of it was an old logging road that is no longer used by vehicles. Snowmobilers liked to go up there in the winter for the valley views. Even though snowmobiles traveling on top of 1 to 6 feet of snow do no damage to the environment, local environmental radicals from the Swan View Coalition wanted it shut down, ostensibly because a couple motorbikes had used it in summer. They sued and Judge Malloy gave them permission to close the trail. Under FS supervision environmentalist machinery dug and sawed it's way up the trail. Closing it to ATVs, horsemen and even making it very difficult for hikers. Scott thinks that the destruction at Peter's Ridge is proof of the insincerity of radical environmentalists. If timber companies did this, the greenies would call it raping the forest. When they do it it's "saving the environment." The Flathead Snowmobile Assn. has submitted a petition signed by over 1000 citizens to reopen Peter's Ridge. 09/15/02 |
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