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Montana Gives Peace a Chance
ISSUE: Summer 2008, feature stories | May 28, 2008
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The Accountant: Wayne Hirst isn't the kind of guy to give up. In his battered old sedan, he travels to the state capital, Helena, weekly to let the legislators know his views on forest management. He desperately wants his friends and clients (most of whom were loggers) to be able to work, in some form or fashion, in the 2.2 million acre Kootenai National Forest, of which the Yaak country makes up approximately half.
Dana Lixenberg
The Snowmobiler: Jerry Wandler, president of the Troy Snowmobile Club, is co-owner of the R Place restaurant in Troy and teaches adult education at the Libby branch of Flathead Valley Community College. Jerry is concerned about getting "locked out" of a sport that has only a very narrow window of opportunity, generally starting in mid-December, when the snow firms up, and ending around mid-April, or when the grizzlies begin to come out of hibernation.
Dana Lixenberg
The Millowner: Doug Chapel of Chapel Cedar has already had inquiries from buyers asking if he has any "wilderness" wood -- lumber from the lands to be thinned. "It flabbergasts me when some big company takes a magnificent piece of wood from the Kootenai National Forest and cuts it into a two-by-four," says Doug. "We can take that same piece of wood and add value to it ten times."
Dana Lixenberg
The Roughrider: "The general ATV owner is a family man in his forties," says Joel Chandler, president of the Libby Ridge Riders. "He's not out there to harass wildlife." Joel wants his grown children to be able to live in this paradise, but right now the only good-paying jobs around here are in the Troy copper and silver mine, where there was a cave-in and death last year.
Dana Lixenberg
The Guide: Outfitter Tim Linehan is an invaluable asset to the Three Rivers Challenge, explaining to rod and gun clubs how wilderness, and the wilderness experience, is good for them as well as for his business. A lot of his clients are from urban areas, and it thrills them to hunt in a land they know will be protected for all time.
Dana Lixenberg
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