The Wilderness Voice

MWA’s staff members and the MWA Council set direction for the organization on big issues like Wil-derness proposals before Con-gress, National Forest forest plans and travel plans, but your local Madison-Gallatin Chapter board of directors also gets involved on some smaller scale issues that fit into our strategic vision. For ex-ample, last year, the chapter board wrote a letter of support to the BLM for proposed bike trails in Revenue Flats, which has since been put on hold. This summer, the BLM released its Park, Gallatin, Broadwater Travel Management Plan and Environ-mental Assessment for comments. The 139-page document won’t make the bestseller list but it did present our chapter board with another opportunity to try to influ-ence public land usage and con-servation in our region. In our comment letter, we essentially did two things: 1. voiced our support for a pro-posed set of bike trails at Copper City and 2. expressed our desire that, in the other 15 areas covered by the Travel Management Plan, the BLM choose the alternative that closes the most roads, better protects elk calving areas during the calv-ing season, reduces travel in win-

ter wildlife habitat, and minimizes weed infestations and littering. Why is your chapter board support-ing bike trails? MWA believes iden-tifying new opportunities for recrea-tional activity, in the appropriate areas, is important. One way to do this is to help bikers find or create fun front-country areas in which to bike. The proposed trails in Copper City are logical places to expand mountain biking opportunity, be-cause the lower moisture level and warmer temperatures create dry, early-season trail opportunities dur-ing the mud season, when bikers (and hikers) need to be conscien-tious about not using the wetter, muddier, more erosion-prone trails in our forests. Where is Copper City? Take I-90 west to the exit after Three Forks and head north on Highway 287 past Wheat Montana like you’re heading to Helena. Pass Jim Do-lan’s herd of 39 horse sculp-tures on the left as you climb the first big hill, then watch for Copper City Road on your right ½ mile past the sculptures (about five miles from I-90). [Note: Google Maps refers to it as Hilltop Road, but that’s not what the street sign says.] The BLM land begins about one mile down that road, with some mining

claims interspersed in the BLM sections. The eastern edge of the BLM land was burned in a grass fire last September. In the spring, wildflowers start sprouting there in March, making for some nice early season hiking. To learn about the proposed Cop-per City trails, go to docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jT_IgYnGxTiar-wfUVGMaPLu98QO9RlqTySI-aUXJcEk/present?ueb=true#slide=id.p . For more information on the BLM’s Park, Gallatin, Broadwater Travel Management Plan and En-vironmental Assessment,go to eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?method-Name=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=70879 .

What Is Your Board Thinking?! by Barbara Geller

Vol 5, No. 2, - Fall 2016

Newsletter of the Madison Gallatin Chapter

Copper City area, photo by Barbara Geller

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Photos from Summer Walks

Pioneer Falls walk, photo by Roxanna McLaughlin

Daley-Tepee walk, photo by Donna Murphey

Windy Pass walk, photo by Craig Allen

Lemondrop Mtn. walk, photo by Craig Allen

Fan Mtn. walk, photo by Bob Bayley Hyalite Peak walk, photo by Lisa Trankley

The Mummy walk, photo by Craig Allen

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Upcoming Events!

Wilderness And… Reflections from Yellowstone and Beyond Wednesday, October 19, 7:00 p.m., Large Community Room, Bozeman Public Library Orville Bach returns to entertain us with more of his stories from 43 years as a Seasonal Ranger in Yellow-stone. In fact, that’s the title of his new book, Reflections from Yellowstone and Beyond--43 Years as a Sea-sonal Ranger . He’s also the author of the first ever guidebook to hiking the trails of YNP and a retired Eco-nomics professor. His presentation will be about a book of stories that primarily celebrate wild places--most from Greater Yel-lowstone, but some beyond. He plans to select stories and images that will provide a taste as to what it is like to work and live in Yellowstone during all four seasons, and also the adventures that one can have in some of those wild places.

2016 Adopt-a-Highway Wrap Up Event, Sat., Oct. 1 It’s that time again. We are looking for volunteers to help clean up our adopted stretch of Highway 191. This will be our last clean up for 2016, so let’s all help get things picked up before the snow flies. Our chapter board appreciates you!! In fact they appreciate you so much, that for the first 20 volunteers that sign up, show up, and work till we are done, they will put up to $10 towards your meal at the Coffee Pot Bakery. Sound good? Meet at the Bozeman Hot Springs parking lot at 9 AM. If you have equipment you like to use for picking up trash, go ahead and bring it. Watch the weather to be sure you dress to stay warm and dry. Bring snacks and water to keep you going. Important: Please email Roxanna McLaughlin (gaia_maid@yahoo.com) or text or call (406-539-7379) by Tuesday, September 27 if you know you can help. This helps to ensure that there will be enough safety equipment from MDT.

Raptor Festival, Oct. 7-9, Bridger Bowl The Madison-Gallatin Chapter will have a table at this year’s Raptor Festival and is expected to have an inter-active display or activity. Roger Jenkins will be giving an abbreviated version of his GPS training at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Steve Griswold and Noah Marion, our new Wilderness Fellow, are in charge and could probably use volunteers for tabling on both days. Please contact either of them at powell-griz@icloud.com (Steve) or nmarion@wildmontana.org (Noah).

Madison Gallatin Chapter Annual Meeting Wednesday, November 16, 7:00 p.m., Large Community Room, Bozeman Public Library Please join us for the annual Chapter Meeting on November 16. This will be a great opportunity to socialize with your fellow Chapter members. Light refreshments will be served. We will be voting on several new Chapter Board members (see their bios elsewhere in the newsletter) and some revisions to the Chapter By-laws. Our Southwest MT Field Director will give a short presentation (see more about this elsewhere in the newsletter). It should be a fun evening. Hope to see you there!

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Bios of Prospective Board Members

Tom Ross - Tom grew up in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and spent much time hik-ing, camping, hunting and fishing in the nearby national forests and parks. He spent his career with the forest products industry and an environmental consulting firm. He has hiked and camped across the Appalachians, Rockies, Sierras and other wild places and also enjoys alpine and Nordic skiing, biking, fishing, and photography. He joined MWA shortly after moving to Montana in 2010 and has been more active in the MGC Chapter since retiring in 2015, believing now is the time to give something back on a local level. He welcomes the opportunity to serve as a MGC Board mem-ber in any capacity that fits his skill set and the Board’s needs.

Faith Doty - Faith grew up in the Flathead Valley, frequently escaping to the woods to find solitude which led her to develop a deep appreciation for the outdoors. She is three semesters away from graduating from MSU with a Bachelor’s of Science in Land Rehabilitation with a minor in Soil Science. Working her way through college, Faith fell in with the Montana Wilderness Association as a freshman, landing a one-year fellowship as the organizer of the student wilderness club at MSU. Over the next two years the position expanded to a Senior Wilderness Fellowship. With a repertoire of experience in youth engagement, community organizing, and a slew of Montana miles on her boots, Faith brings a recreationist-Montanan-progressive per-spective, and would enjoy and respect the opportunity to add to the chapter board.

Keith Strong - Keith spent his first eighteen years on a small dairy farm bordering what is now the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness. He attended college and law school in Missoula. His legal career culminated with eight years as a federal magis-trate judge in Great Falls handling cases from Glacier, The Lewis and Clark National Forest (including the Bob Marshall Complex), the Helena National Forest and the C M Russell complex. He learned on the job of the threats that face wild places and wants to help MWA protect those wild places.

Karen Williams - Karen has been a Montana resident since 1995. She has a Mas-ter’s degree in environmental engineering from Montana Tech and a PhD in geomor-phology from Montana State. She has worked for the US Forest Service and BLM in Montana, and has on the ground knowledge of the landscapes of southwest Mon-tana. In addition to agency experience, Karen has a background in engineering and geology which she has applied working in stream restoration and mine reclamation in Montana and areas as remote as the Yukon. She is interested in land management and conservation issues and would like to bring her interest and expertise to the MWA Madison Gallatin board. Karen has led two MWA Wilderness Walks and would like to become more of an advocate and leader in this program. She has also contrib-uted to the online Hiking Guide.

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Current Board Members Running for Re-election

Bob Bayley has greatly enjoyed membership in the Montana Wilderness Association for the past 16 years. He served on the state council for five years, two of which were as chapter representative and on the chapter board for the past eleven years. He is particularly supportive of the Wilderness Walks Program and looks for-ward to continue working at the chapter level towards new wilderness designation for much of the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Steve Griswold is an active camper and hiker who grew up in Kansas, the state with the lowest percentage of public lands in the nation and one of only seven states with no designated Wilderness. Despite this geo-graphical handicap, he was introduced to the wonders of America’s great outdoors when he was young and has been a frequent user and strong supporter of our public lands ever since. He has been a member of MWA since he moved to Montana and is a long term member of other national conservation and wilderness organizations. He was actively involved with the Gallatin Community Collaborative. Steve is a retired Emer-gency Physician living with his wife, Kathy, in Bozeman. Jeanette Hall has been a Bozeman resident for over 30 years. She treasures Montana and has enjoyed the beauty and wildness that southwest Montana has to offer. Hiking with the Bozeman Women’s Activities Group and skiing in our mountains are her greatest joy. Jeanette is an advocate for maintaining our public lands and wilderness and sees this as an increasingly important issue as our local and state populations continue to grow. As a local chapter representative to the state council she is able to share her understanding that Mon-tana’s landscapes have great diversity - rangelands, prairies, mountains, and badlands – and each deserve to be respected, valued and protected. Roger Jenkins has been involved with grassroots conservations for more than 40 years, having lived in East Tennessee for 29 of those and in Montana for the remaining time. He is the former Chairman of the Sierra Club’s Tennessee Chapter and has been the President of the Madison-Gallatin Chapter Board for over six years. He is an active hiker and skier, a retired scientist, and believes that all US citizens have a stake in keeping our public lands in public hands.

Join us at MWA’s Annual Meeting November 16th, 7:00, at the Bozeman Public Library

Some of Montana’s most precious wild places lie within ranges such as the Gallatins, the Crazy Mountains, and the Madisons. And today, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to get involved and ensure these places remain special. At this year’s local annual meeting, we invite you to join us and learn more about this special opportunity. More importantly, we invite you to join us and enjoy the company of your fellow MWA friends. On November 18th, our local MWA staffer will give a short talk about how you can get involved in helping the Forest Service create a thoughtful, forward-thinking vision that includes protecting the wild character of places like the Gallatin Range. This opportunity lies as much helping the Forest Service create a plan as it does in working neighbor-to-neighbor with all types of forest users. We hope to see you there.

Louise Johns Photography

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