Passionate support for Bob Marshall Foundation

People love the backcountry wilderness for many reasons. For Joe Franchini, it's the people he meets in the woods.

"Some of the nicest people I've met in this world I've met in the backcountry," he said last week.

A successful businessman, Franchini grew up in New Jersey but always had a love for horses and cattle. He rode horses in endurance races and raised Scottish Highlanders.

In the early 1980s, he read a story in the Smithsonian magazine about a foundation being formed to support and complete projects in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

About 30 people nationwide showed interest in coming to Montana, but when push came to shove, only Franchini, a friend and another couple showed up at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station that summer to actually do any work.

Still, it was a start.

The Bob Marshall Foundation organized, faded for a few years and then re-emerged 15 years ago as a vital organization supporting stewardship projects in "The Bob."

Since then, the Foundation has worked on more than 4,000 miles of trails and has 325 volunteers, Foundation president Fred Flint said.

Volunteer labor is worth about $325,000 annually.

Franchini eventually gave up life in New Jersey and moved permanently to Montana, where he has business interests in Columbia Falls, including a partnership in the Nite Owl Restaurant. He continued to volunteer with the Forest Service and the Bob Marshall Foundation, working on dozens of projects over the years, from trail crew grunt work to packing in supplies by mule train.

He says he lives his life by a simple motto: Do something good and someone will know you were here.

The Franchini Family Foundation continues to provide financial support to the Bob Marshall Foundation, and Joe, at age 77, hopes to work on some projects this summer after a few years away from the woods.

"He's a big help," Flint said of Franchini.