Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 3.4.15

24 | MARCH 4, 2015 OPINION
LETTERS
SENATORS MISLEADING PUB- LIC TO INCREASE LOGGING
Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester are spreading misinformation in their bid to pump up logging of federal lands. They are doing the industry’s bidding and they don’t seem to care if their rate of logging public forests violates environmental laws or not.
Tester recently told Montana Public Radio “every logging sale in Montana right now is under litigation. Every one of them.” The Flathead National Forest website, however, lists 17 approved logging projects, only four of which have been litigated.
Daines wants to force citizens to post a large bond in order to sue the Forest Service, undermining the Equal Access to Justice Act in an effort to make it impossible for David to take on Goliath when environmental laws are being broken. Nonprofit conservation groups already have plenty invested in attending field tours, studying environmental documents and attempting to reach agreement with the Forest Service prior to filing any necessary lawsuits. Public lands can’t afford to have nonprofits and citizens priced out of their right to due process.
The Flathead National Forest has been trying since 1974 to reduce its logging to comply with environmental laws. Stoltze Lumber sued the Flathead to keep the logging inflated. In 1995 the Flathead cut its logging levels in half and proposed in 2006 to reduce them further to better protect fish, wildlife and water quality. This has helped reduce litigation.
Now Stoltze has duped the Whitefish Range Collaborative into nearly doubling the federal land available for logging by reducing protections for threatened grizzly bear and lynx. Environmental protection is nothing more than lip service when senators and collaborators work to get around the law while trying to marginalize those who would enforce it in court.
Keith Hammer, chair Swan View Coalition
COUNTY MADE MISTAKE APPROVING FLATHEAD LAKE BRIDGE
Poised delicately between the mouth of the Swan River and the delta of the Flathead River where it empties into Flathead Lake is an island of particular importance to the community of Bigfork. Dockstader Island, as it is affectionately called, stands as a persistent reminder
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
TOP 10 ONLINE STORIES
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Home at Center of Evergreen Child-Murder Case Vandalized
Evergreen Man Accused of Killing Toddler Pleads Not Guilty
Who’s Pulling the Strings?
Defense Attorneys Seek New Judge in Evergreen Child- Murder Case
Evergreen Man Charged with Homicide in 2-Year- Old Boy’s Death
Judge Approves Gag Order in Evergreen Murder Case
Ski Resorts Clinging Onto Winter
ScottiBelli Executive Chef Takes Reins at North Bay
Columbia Falls Basketball Teams Triumph at Divisionals
Friends, Family Gather to Remember Slain Toddler
of the massive glaciers that scoured out the trough that is now Flathead Lake. This little rocky outpost and the ridge on the mainland to the north were just resistant enough to survive the Ice Age bulldozer that reshaped the entire landscape of this valley.
Less than 100 years ago this island was the tip of a peninsula connected to the mainland, but the rise in lake level as a result of Kerr Dam and the subsequent erosion of low lying shore severed it completely. It has been an island for as long as most people can now remember. In clear view of much of Bigfork, this island occupies a unique place in physical and cultural landscape of the area. Its isolation and its relationship to the extensive wetlands on shore have spared it from the exuberant development that has characterized the Bigfork area over the past 40 years. Until recently, respectful visits by boat in the summer and foot in the winter were welcomed. Although privately owned, the tradition of Dockstader Island was generous.
All that changed a few years ago when the property was sold. The new owner, apparently unfamiliar with the customs of our community, has conspicuously posted cameras and no trespassing signs all over the area. Clearly, this is his right. However, equally clearly it is a demonstration of an attitude incongruent to the tradition of neighborliness that is well established in Bigfork. Traditions are important to most of us and can be persuasive, but are of course not enforceable.
More recently, however, the activities in relation to this island have gone from inconsiderate to illegal. Work has begun on a bridge nearly 500 feet in length that, should it be completed, would connect the island to the mainland. The proposed steel and concrete structure would be 16 feet in width and apparently serve as a driveway to access the island. In 2011 the county issued a permit for this construction that, unfortunately, does not comply with the county’s own Lakeshore Protection Regulations. As well, the permit was issued without formal Planning Office review or public comment. The regulations clearly require such review for any project affecting the lakeshore that will have a significant impact to the lake, lakebed, or its lakeshore. The proposed structure is quite obviously “significant” by any meaningful measure, and also specifically violates the regulations because it constitutes a road or driveway, would interfere with navigation, and is discordant with natural scenic values. The regulations specifically limit docks to 60 feet in length, and this structure (which is not being called a dock, but is essentially similar in impact) is nearly eight times that length! The proposed
bridge would be nearly four times the length of the old steel bridge over the Swan River in Bigfork, and wider. It would be more than double the length of the concrete bridge that carries Highway 35 traffic across the Swan River. It would be almost as long as Kerr Dam itself!
I believe all Montanans treasure the rights and privileges that go with living in this remarkable place, including the rights that accompany property ownership. However, in order to be meaningful, liberty is always accompanied by responsibility. Lake shores, and in particular that of Flathead Lake, are particularly important and sensitive transition zones between private property and the commons which belongs to all of us. They are also delicate areas ecologically. Both the state and the county formally recognized this with laws and regulations designed to protect the integrity of lakes and their shores. The permit for construction of this bridge does not comply with those regulations, nor the open public process required in those regulations.
It appears that, while acting in good faith, the county commissioners made a significant and probably costly mistake in granting a permit for this construction. The property owner has violated the terms of the permit, which on two occasions has resulted in stop work orders from the county. The permit has been extended beyond its original term four times over four years, and still, only the pilings have been placed (which took less than a week). A local citizens group, the Community Association for North Shore Conservation, after attempting to resolve this issue with the county through cooperative dialogue, has reluctantly filed suit in order to get the county to revoke this illegal and ill-conceived permit. It is time for the county to admit its mistake and make things right with both the law and the citizens of this county.
Jeffrey Funk Bigfork
FWP TAKING AWAY FROM SENIORS
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is at it again! Just because it cannot manage its funds, we the seniors are going to pay.
I have fished and hunted in Montana for 55 of my 61 years as a resident. I turn 62 this year and was looking forward to a reduced fishing and hunting license for the years to come. Now close to retirement, House Bill 140 is taking this away from us seniors. What about the motto “The Last Best Place?” I wonder.
Stephen R. Peters Kalispell
LETTERS
Tell us what you think. To submit a letter, please e-mail your submission
to [email protected]. Please keep your letter to 300 words or less. The Flathead Beacon reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity and
to prevent libel. Letters must include the writer’s first and last name, phone number and address for verification purposes. Only the name and hometown of the writer will be printed. To mail a letter, please send to 17 Main Street, Kalispell, MT 59901.
Fax letters to (406) 257-9231.
CORRECTIONS
If a Beacon story includes a factual error, please tell us about it. Call Kellyn Brown at 257-9220; or e-mail to [email protected]; or fax to 257-9231.
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
For daily news, local community pages, video, multimedia, story archives and lively online conversation, visit our Web site at flatheadbeacon.com.