By Dave Hurtt, Florence
I have known Stewart Brandborg for 86 of his 93 years, as our families go back to the 1920’s in Grangeville, Idaho, where my father, Leon C. Hurtt, was Supervisor on the Nez Perce National Forest, and his assistant was Stewart’s father, Guy Brandborg, known as Brandy.
Both families later transferred to Montana, where Guy became Supervisor of the Bitterroot National Forest with headquarters in Hamilton and my father had the similar position of the Helena National Forest. Our families kept in close touch during the following decades and shared numerous visits and meals together as I was growing up.
The accolades given Stewart for his energy, abilities and accomplishments during his lifetime are accurate and well deserved as attested by the many words written and spoken by the large gathering of his disciples at his home in a remembrance celebration recently.
Friends of the Bitterroot and Bitterrooters for Planning which he organized have had an influence on local politics and issues through the years. Their agenda and hard work swept their candidates into County Commission seats at one time, which included my defeat as an opposition choice, but did not dampen my friendship with Stewart over that issue. In ensuing years, that group was voted out of office as a majority of citizens began to become aware of FOB and BFP doctrine and made definite changes.
At the recent gathering to honor and remember Stewart, and observing those participants, it was difficult to identify anyone who had not been at the government trough, or in some salaried position. There appeared to be few who had ever plowed a field, planted a crop, pulled a calf at 3 a.m. in a blizzard, dealt with Mother Nature and took their product to market and had to accept what was offered. When Bitterroot land became more valuable for home sites than for crop or livestock production, many in agriculture were forced to sell some of that land to developers. This became an issue between the salaried group of FOB/BFP participants and those not on a 9 to 5 schedule five days a week.
One of the many issues on which Stewart and I clashed was the attempt to relocate Grizzly bears into the Bitterroot Selway Wilderness Area which was successfully defeated. I will, however, remember the friendship I had with him, and admire his abilities, on both national and local levels, even though we were often politically opposed.
In his extensive home library, I did not notice the book by William Kittredge entitled, “The Last Best Place.” I think Stewart would have appreciated a poem therein, by conservationist/rancher/poet, Wally McRae of Rafter 6 ranch on Rosebud Creek in southeastern Montana, entitled, “Reincarnation”, which I respectfully feel, is fitting.