Commissioners, I affirm you for scheduling another public comment meeting regarding the commission’s letter supporting Senator Daines’ bill S-2206. Good on you for that (though the threat of a law suit may have motivated you).
By now, you’ve witnessed a sizeable portion of your constituency who don’t approve of sweeping away our state’s five Wilderness Study Areas in one fell swoop. It’s beyond imagination that you wrote, “We believe that there are NO public lands, which are not currently designated as Wilderness Area, that have STRONG LOCAL SUPPORT for designation as Wilderness Area in Ravalli County.”
Either you are liars or fools. I suppose you could defend yourselves by acknowledging that you live in a bubble sequestered from the world by people of a similar ideology. Whatever the case, you don’t represent the county.
The arrogant flaw in Daines’ ill-conceived bill is the process he proposes, to trash all five MWAs despite Congressional designation intended to address each one independently.
Think how you would feel if a conservation organization convinced a congressperson to sponsor a bill that declared all WSAs official wilderness – no public input, no individual consideration. I believe you’d find that vexing, to say the least. And why – for the same reason that we’re upset at S-2206; because it does not address each WSA individually.
As one of your many constituents opposed to your stance, I ask you to withdraw your letter; at the very least withdraw your statement “…NO public lands… have STRONG LOCAL SUPPORT for designation as Wilderness…”
By now you realize that statement is wildly untrue.
Bruce Weide
Hamilton