Wilderness for the Front Letter to the Editor

Back the Front!

Please consider submitting a letter to the editor to the newspapers listed below supporting wilderness designation of the Front. We have included a set of talking points and a sample letter that follow. It is also important to include any personal or anecdotal story you may have to illustrate your points.

Talking Points

• The Front is rated by MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks as the top 1% of wildlife habitat in the nation.
• The Front has some of the largest game herds in the lower 48 states, has the densest population of migratory golden eagles in the world and is the last area where grizzlies still roam the plains.
• Oil and gas drilling is an intensive, highly industrial process that creates a huge network of roads, power lines, pipelines, clearcuts, well sites, and pollution that is incompatible with other values of the Front.
• Less than one week of gas and 20 minutes of oil could be recovered if we drilled underneath the entire Front, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, and Glacier National Park.
  The Front will be threatened by oil and gas development, as well as increased motorization, until permanent protection is secured for it.
• Wilderness designation is the best way to gain permanent protection for public lands along the Front.
• Wilderness safeguards the rights of hunters, anglers, outfitters, ranchers, horse packers, wildlife watchers, hikers, campers, and others by allowing such traditional uses while preventing destructive activities such as drilling, roadbuilding, clearcutting, and motorized recreation.
• The economy of the Front range towns may benefit greatly from a protected Front, as many of the current local jobs and potential future jobs depend on the natural character of the Front.
• Oil and gas is a boom and bust industry that is fundamentally unsustainable.
  

Letters should be no more than 300 words. Send your letter to each of the following newspapers and send a copy of your letter to Senators Burns and Baucus as well as Rep. Rehberg.

Missoulian: oped@missoulian.com
Missoula Independent: btyer@missoulanews.com
Great Falls Tribune: gmoseman@greatfal.gannett.com
Billings Gazette: speakup@billingsgazette.com

Sample Letter

Dear Editor:
Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front represents one of our nation’s best preserved historical and natural areas. All of its original species-except bison-still thrive there, the Old North Trail used by many Native American tribes is still visible near the foot of the mountains, grizzlies still roam the prairies, golden eagles still come in the hundreds each year during their fall migrations, waters still run clean out of the mountains and onto the rolling plains, and people still live along the Front as they have for generations.

The Front is not the place for industrial oil and gas development. With its roads, power lines, well sites, pipelines, chemical plants, and heavy machinery, oil and gas development on the Front would mean the end of its wild character, would endanger the lifestyles of many people who live on the Front, drink its water, and depend on its natural character, would displace native wildlife and would degrade hunting, angling, wildlife viewing, and hiking opportunities.

Montanans have had to fight to protect the Front for the past 100 years and will have to continue to do so in the future if we do not gain permanent protection for this national treasure. The best protection for the public lands along the Front, its wildlife, its people, and its traditional uses is wilderness. Wilderness designation would stop new roads, wells, and clearcuts from scarring the heart of Montana’s Front Range, would protect the rights of hikers, wildlife viewers, anglers, hunters, ranchers, outfitters, and horse packers , and would preserve the home of hundreds of wildlife species who have lived for eons on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front.

There is no more stable, or sustainable, basis for the local economy than one based on its continued health and the growing desire of Americans to experience wild places such as the Front. Please ask our congressional delegation to support wilderness designation for the Front.

Sincerely,

Your Signature

If you have any questions, please contact Cameron with the Native Forest Network at: 406.542.7343 or by email at cameron@wildrockies.org