June 5 Letters to the editor

Streamline the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act

Seeley Lake has been a recreation destination for decades, attracting everyone from fishermen and canoers to snowmobilers and mountain bikers to backcountry horsemen and nordic skiers. We know the incredible opportunities this beautiful area has to offer, and that is why it is important, now more than ever, to back legislation that takes this all into consideration.

The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (BCSA) was devised almost 20 years ago by a broad group of invested people in the Seeley area, including mountain bikers, conservationists, snowmobilers, timber people, ranchers, packers, and biologists. The BCSA would add almost 80,000 acres of recommended Wilderness onto the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex while also safeguarding amazing recreation opportunities for both motorized and mechanized use. And it’s so close to passing! Late last year, BCSA passed out of committee and onto the Senate floor, but we could use another push to get it across the finish line.

The passage of BCSA would be streamlined if Representative Zinke introduced the BCSA in the House as well. Montanans have been fighting for close to two decades to get BCSA passed and are so close to seeing it happen.
 

To Representative Zinke: be a public lands advocate and this summer introduce the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act in the House of Representatives.

— Don Stolte, Whitefish