By Verena Gruber, Mautendorf, Austria
I first visited the Bitterroot Valley in early March 2018 and came back to further explore the more “protected” Bitterroot mountains as well as the equally wild Sapphires this past summer of 2019. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness mostly protects the highest parts as well as the valley heads of the Bitterroot canyons. Signs tell you that you are entering Wilderness and that certain things like motorized uses are not allowed in order to conserve the wildness of these undeveloped valleys. “Mostly undeveloped” to be exact, as nearly every canyon hosts one or more dammed lakes. The Sapphires are in many ways equally spectacular and undeveloped as the Bitterroots, having an impressive amount of old trees and old-growth forest in addition to important wildlife habitats and corridors. However, a protective label is missing, making them a target for seemingly profitable forestry operations, plus more damaging roads and clear-cuts that sometimes come with logging. I didn’t feel a difference when hiking in these two areas when it comes to their wildness or naturalness. I actually experienced solitude more often in areas that did not carry the Wilderness label, mostly because of fewer people. Be it in the Sapphires or the Lost Horse drainage of the Bitterroots, they provided everything a Wilderness area stands for. Unfortunately, these same unprotected areas are now at risk from projects like Gold Butterfly and the Bitterroot Front.
Coming from a country where nearly every bit of land is and has been used and shaped for centuries, I wasn’t aware what an actual natural forest looks and feels like before I hiked in the Bitterroots and the Sapphires. For me these hikes truly were a life-changing experience. To be able to walk among trees that are older than the country they geographically stand in is something that is nearly impossible to experience anywhere in the Alps.
Working in the natural forests of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness for a summer followed by weeks working in the monoculture forests of my home enabled me to draw comparisons on the far-reaching effects of such different approaches of forest management. I don’t want to compare apples with pears but a natural, healthy forest has so much more positive and long-term effects on a landscape and society than an industrialized monoculture could ever bring profit. Science has verified these positive effects, it’s not necessary to rehash it here.
Working in a forest cut up by miles of forest roads where there is hardly any organic soil left, where the spruce monoculture made the ground so acid that it only consists of several inches of duff making it nearly impossible for any other plants to grow, let me re-think the meaning of “forest.” A forest is more than an assortment of trees. A natural, healthy forest consists of living and dead, standing and down trees and hosts a diversity of tree species. Wildlife, insects and disease are essential parts of it. A natural forest is a complex living ecosystem governed by natural dynamic processes that enable it to deal with occurring changes and disturbances such as climate change. It’s the source of our clean water and clean air. However, forests are also where one of the most sustainable resources we have and will have, grows: Wood.
Industrialization makes it possible to economically use some forests while we set aside and protect others. Sustainable forest management treats forests as the complex ecosystems they are and guarantees long-term revenue. More and more private and public forest managers in the Alps and other parts of Europe have moved to a more holistic and sustainable forest management approach; my family being one of them. Especially, as the common approach of planting monocultures (mostly spruce) and clear-cutting them in a still juvenile state keeps failing them again and again. Be it whole slopes wiped down from wind, forest roads eroded by mud slides after heavy rains, or insect infestations. It’s getting more and more expensive and unprofitable to manage their forests the way they did for a long time. And it will only get worse in the light of climate change. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns demand sustainable long-term management approaches as well as the protection and conservation of undeveloped wild lands.
In the face of climate change nothing will be more profitable than clean water, clean air and natural, undeveloped places where evolution can adapt to the changing climate without interference. From a social perspective, we need places where our society can recreate, find solitude and peace, and restore our sanity.
The Bitterroot Valley is one of the few regions left in the US that is surrounded by natural, healthy and roadless forests, often old growth. Concentrating forestry operations in areas close to communities where there is already existing infrastructure, such as roads, and prioritizing sustainable forest management approaches over clear cuts will be important steps in preserving these exceptional and important ecosystems and the biodiversity they host as well as enable sustainable long-term profits. Finding a balance between using industrial forests for profitable and sustainable wood and protecting wild and natural forests is a challenge forests managers and locals have to tackle together.