Dear HCN,
Montana’s gallivanting
Gov. Marc Racicot recently bellyached in Washington, D.C., about
the administration’s roadless initiative. Since his case had just
been thrown out of court in Idaho, maybe he was seeking refuge with
fellow anti-enviros inside the Beltway. Obviously, he’s not
listening to most of his constituents. Most Montanans, like the
great majority of all Americans, embrace the roadless initiative
much more eagerly than they do Racicot’s shaky opposition to
it.
A few days after our governor’s hand-wringing
display, his party members from Republicans for Environmental
Protection gave powerful testimony promoting the roadless
initiative in the name of conservation champion Theodore Roosevelt.
The 32,900 miles of national forest roads just in Montana exceed
the Earth’s circumference. The 380,000 miles of national forest
roads in the country exceeds the distance to the moon and halfway
back. Since Racicot claims he doesn’t know where the roadless areas
are, maybe he’s been camped on the moon with Rip Van Winkle? The
areas have been inventoried for years. The Forest Service has the
maps. They’re even on the Internet.
Does our
governor really want taxpayers to subsidize carving even more roads
across our last best wild places like the Rocky Mountain Front?
Shades of James Watt!
Gene
Sentz
Choteau,
Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Roadless in Montana.
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