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OUTDOORS
JANUARY 29, 2014 | 59

perpetuity by designating “wilderness Potts encouraged the crowd to be-

areas” where roads, vehicles or industri- “THIS WAS OUR ONLY HOPE TO PUT LANDS ASIDE TO ENJOY come active advocates for wilderness
alization are prohibited.
and help introduce others to the nation’s
The Bob Marshall Wilderness, IN THEIR NATURAL STATE FOREVER. THE WILDERNESS ACT outdoors. The way to get people to love
named after the iconoclast who helped wilderness is to go into it, enjoy it and
spearhead the grassroots efort in the IS AT THE SAME TIME THE FINEST RECREATION ACT AND explore it, he said.
early 20th century, became one of the FINEST CONSERVATION ACT THAT’S EVER BEEN PASSED.” “We had mentors and people who
irst tracts of forest preserved under the would take us outside on that irst excur-
law. Today the Wilderness Act has fur- sion,” he said. “Who are going to be this
Rick Potts, refuge manager at the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge
nished 4.5 percent of the nation’s acre- generation’s mentors? Who are going to
age as an endowment for present and be their guides?”
future generations to explore and enjoy.
The Wilderness Lecture Series has Association, attracted almost 100 peo- Potts said.
“This was our only hope to put lands three more events planned for Kalispell ple who listened to Potts’ impassioned He cited a recent video that went
aside to enjoy in their natural state for- that focus on the 50th anniversary of the ode to the outdoors.
viral showing a city in China where
ever,” said Potts, a former National Wil- Wilderness Act. The free events are at “The Bob happens to be my favor- residents were only able to see the idyl-
derness Program manager and the cur- FVCC in the Arts and Technology Build- ite place on earth,” he said, adding, “We lic scenery of the sunset by looking at

rent refuge manager at the Charles M. ing and begin at 7 p.m.
are blessed in Montana to have an abun- a large television screen on a building
Russell National Wildlife Refuge near On Feb. 13, Bob Keane, a research dance of those blank spots on the map.”
surrounded by skyscrapers and under a
Lewistown. “The Wilderness Act is at ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service But increasingly fewer people are shroud of smog.
the same time the inest recreation act Fire Research Station in Missoula, will adventuring into wild places like the “Everything is tied to everything
and inest conservation act that’s ever discuss climate change and its efects on Bob, and “wilderness is in danger of be- else,” he said.
been passed.”
the landscape and ecosystems of West- coming irrelevant,” he said.
The Wilderness Act began as an idea
But half a century after the wilder- ern Montana.
It’s a great dilemma that faces the rooted in concern. In the 1950s and ‘60s,
ness system was created, Potts worries On March 13, a panel discussion will Wilderness Act in the next 50 years, America’s urban sprawl had broached

about one question: does today’s society focus on “Leaving a Legacy: Passing on he said, as urban populations grow, cli- further into the rural landscape. A
care?
Wilderness to the Next Generation.” The mates change and industrial enterpris- grassroots movement led by early con-
Since the heyday of exploration in panel will include Roland Creek, retired es, like mining, seek new footholds.
servationists, like Bob Marshall, Aldo
the nation’s outdoors, backcountry over- wilderness outitter and writer, Dave “We need to make sure that we give Leopold and Wallace Stegner, advocat-
night use is down 26 percent across the Owen, retired USFS wilderness ranger, the next generation the same menu of ed for some form of protected status for
U.S., Potts said.
and Frank Vitale, wilderness advocate.
options that we had,” he said, “so when it certain wild places. It was an unheard of
“That scares me to death.”
On April 10, Jonathan Klein, a re- comes time for them to need to seek wild request at the time, but it captured the

Potts expressed his love of the wil- cently retired USFS wilderness and land that it will still be there.”
attention and support of Americans.
derness and concerns for the future last recreation manager on the Beaverhead- Countries that have shied away from Today the same concerns that
week at Flathead Valley Community Deerlodge National Forest, will discuss protecting some segments of land in spurred the inception of the act remain
College at the irst of four local lectures hair-raising encounters with wildlife in their natural state have seen the con- as relevant as ever. Less than 19 percent
this year celebrating the 50th anniver- wilderness.
sequences. Acid rain, polluted rivers, of the nation’s population lives in a rural
sary of the Wilderness Act. The event, For more information, visit www. extinct species — without some form of setting, Potts said, and the role that the
hosted by the Bob Marshall Wilderness bmwf.org or www.wildmontana.org.
conservation, civilization inevitably has outdoors plays in people’s lives is dimin-
Foundation and Montana Wilderness
[email protected]
deleterious impacts on the landscape,
ishing in many ways.