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The Flathead Valley is growing fast — adding thousands of people every year. We must act today if we are to maintain our quiet and natural opportunities for years to come.   

Now is a crucial time for the future of the northern Swan Range, as the Flathead National Forest writes a new forest plan. The Forest Service has proposed turning its back on traditional management and its past promises regarding this special place. Please tell the Flathead National Forest that, given our valley’s sharp population growth, our backyard mountain range deserves greater respect. 

If you love the family-friendly wilderness of the northern Swan Range, please ask the Flathead National Forest to protect the northern Swan's natural values. After all, the Swan is where we go to get away from the noise and traffic of modern life. 

Ask the Forest Service to recommend wilderness in the northern Swan Range and close it to motorized vehicles to:

• protect your opportunity for peace, quiet and solitude

• conserve the northern Swan's clean water, fish, and secure wildlife habitat

• protect fragile high country from damaging motorized abuse

• guarantee that the northern Swan will remain natural and quiet for generations to come

What You Can Do to Help!  

Please contact the Forest Service. Remember to include your full name and mailing address (and email address if using web-based comment links) as anonymous comments do not count:

E-Mail

The (Western Montana Planning Zone) Forest Plan Revision Team: wmpz@fs.fed.us

Swan Lake District Ranger Steve Brady: sbrady@fs.fed.us

Hungry Horse District Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera; jdeherrera@fs.fed.us 

Spotted Bear District Ranger Deb Mucklow: dmucklow@fs.fed.us (for the east slope of the Swan Range)

Flathead Forest Supervisor Cathy Barbouletos: cbarbouletos@fs.fed.us

or E-mail the entire gang!   wmpz@fs.fed.us;sbrady@fs.fed.us;jdeherrera@fs.fed.us;dmucklow@fs.fed.us;cbarbouletos@fs.fed.us

Or Write:

To the Flathead Forest Supervisor:
Cathy Barbouletos

Flathead National Forest Supervisor  
1935 Third Avenue East Kalispell, MT  59901

What’s at Stake?

Solitude, quiet and traditional recreation
In 1988, the US Congress and the Senate voted to forever conserve 80,000 acres of the Swan Range high country for hiking, hunting, horseback riding and other quiet forms of recreation by declaring it wilderness. That bill was never signed to law, but provided clear direction about how the people want this range managed. Yet in its proposed plan, the Forest Service recommends zero acres of wilderness in the northern Swan. Treasured places like greater Jewel Basin and Bunker Creek would no longer managed foremost for their natural values.

Wildlife habitat for people to enjoy
Hunters know the Swan Range and the South Fork produces trophy mule deer and mature bull elk and mountain goat. Anglers know the alpine lakes of the Swan are loaded with cutthroat trout and the South Fork of the Flathead River is one of the few places in the West where anglers may legally pursue bull trout. Plus the Swan is prime habitat for rare creatures like grizzly bears and wolverines. That’s why local experts at the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks have long called for protecting the prime habitat and clean water of the Swan Range. Yet the proposed Forest Service plan calls for reduced protection for wildlife habitat.

Fairness and government accountability 
Most of us hike, walk our dogs, ride horses, or lead llamas in the Swan. We enjoy the natural sounds and smells, as well as the Swan’s spectacular scenery. Fewer than one in ten national forest users rides an expensive dirt bike or all-terrain vehicle. Besides shattering the quiet of the woods, machines like dirt bikes also trench trails and damage fragile alpine meadows. Now, the Flathead National Forest is turning its back on 40 years of management direction by increasing its emphasis on motorized recreation in the Swan. The Forest Service should listen to the quiet majority, not just the noisy minority.

Ready access to quiet recreation 
Jewel Basin. Strawberry Lake. Columbia Mountain. Sixmile Peak. Ready access to the peace, quiet and solitude of these places enhance our economy and quality of life. If not managed properly, the noise and smells of motorbikes and four-wheelers will drown out the peace and quiet of the mountains, damage our trails, and leave us all the poorer for it.  

Bigfork Artist Elmer Sprunger