MJE2083
Well-known member
Sounds awesome, can't wait to see them. Would gladly pay if needed.
What if?
- Thread starter Big Fin
- Start date
MLaird
Well-known member
Really looking forward to seeing these stories. Thanks, Randy, for being willing to give them a new & wider audience. And thanks to Marcus for getting the ball rolling!
Northwoods Labs
Well-known member
I've spent some time in the Taylor Fork area. Unbelievable place, did not have a clue about any of the backstory to it. I'll be looking forward to watching the video and learning more
Resurrecting this thread. The plans of these stories of "What if" got derailed by the Shanghai Chicken Flu, also know as COVID-19. We did get finished with the "Dam That Never Was," a project that was partially completed before the bug disrupted life. That is on our YouTube Channel.
Marcus and I are plotting ways to continue telling these stories. "What if" applies to so many people who stuck their neck out on behalf of wild places and wild things. The number of them we have lost in the last five years makes it regrettable that I have not got to these stories by now.
Some of them are challenges. Marcus went to scout out telling the Cecil Garland story and how Cecil, a local hardware merchant in Lincoln Montana, stopped the "plows of progress" that would have brought development to the Scapegoat backcounty and in the process created the only citizen-originated Wilderness Area in the country. We worked with a great USFS person who manages that Forest. He offered us a film permit for the purposes of telling that story, though it is nearly impossible to get a Wilderness film permit in USFS Region 1.
Marcus returned with bad news. On the summer weekend they went and scouted the areas Cecil spoke so eloquently about, the places so dear to him, Marcus witnessed them to be a beehive of activity. Parking lots were crammed. Dogs, people, dog shit and people shit, and all the other disparaging violations landscapes suffer under the surge of concentrated humanity. We strategized. We punted - the Scapegoat is under enough year-round pressure. We'd have to find another way to tell the story. We are working on that.
With the East Crazy Land Exchange being a topic of recent focus, it might be worth telling the story of how the USFS was able to consolidate all the checkerboard in the N/NW portions of the Crazies via a land exchange with the Galt family. The USFS had most of the remaining checkerboard ready to be consolidated under another land exchange. Yet, the election of 1994 brought in the "Contract with America" which gave folks claiming (falsely) to be fiscal hawks. They defunded LWCF and spent like drunk sailors on other programs, causing the consolidation to fall about by late 1995. This was early in my days of being involved in these issues and it was a great experience to learn from those doing the heavy lifting, only to see their work be sunk by the waves of politics.
Had that exchange/consolidation not have been sunk in 1995, the controversy over the East Crazy Land Exchange would have been moot. Further evidence supporting my belief that "If you think conservation and access is expensive and complicated today, give it ten years." Or, "What if" we had got that done.
We were lucky to get an interview with Bob Gibson, former Supervisor of the Gallatin National Forest, passionate and accomplished hunter, and early leader on the Board of RMEF. His color and frankness would be welcome today. How we can put that to use to explain the "What if" Bob hadn't told the USFS they were gonna do the OTO Ranch, Dome Mountain, and other access projects in the upper Paradise Valley?
The number of "What if" stories, whether what if they hadn't got it done or what if we had got it done, is extensive, just in my part of the world. It's a fun exercise to be back planning these and trying to get them done. They take a long time. The logistics are complicated. Coordinating people who can give them context is challenging. Yet, I think stories that tell us how places were conserved, how access was created, gives us reasons for hope during times when things might seem stacked against us.
As Poz always reminded me, "Preach hope and possibility, despair inspires nobody." These stories will hopefully do that.
Marcus and I are plotting ways to continue telling these stories. "What if" applies to so many people who stuck their neck out on behalf of wild places and wild things. The number of them we have lost in the last five years makes it regrettable that I have not got to these stories by now.
Some of them are challenges. Marcus went to scout out telling the Cecil Garland story and how Cecil, a local hardware merchant in Lincoln Montana, stopped the "plows of progress" that would have brought development to the Scapegoat backcounty and in the process created the only citizen-originated Wilderness Area in the country. We worked with a great USFS person who manages that Forest. He offered us a film permit for the purposes of telling that story, though it is nearly impossible to get a Wilderness film permit in USFS Region 1.
Marcus returned with bad news. On the summer weekend they went and scouted the areas Cecil spoke so eloquently about, the places so dear to him, Marcus witnessed them to be a beehive of activity. Parking lots were crammed. Dogs, people, dog shit and people shit, and all the other disparaging violations landscapes suffer under the surge of concentrated humanity. We strategized. We punted - the Scapegoat is under enough year-round pressure. We'd have to find another way to tell the story. We are working on that.
With the East Crazy Land Exchange being a topic of recent focus, it might be worth telling the story of how the USFS was able to consolidate all the checkerboard in the N/NW portions of the Crazies via a land exchange with the Galt family. The USFS had most of the remaining checkerboard ready to be consolidated under another land exchange. Yet, the election of 1994 brought in the "Contract with America" which gave folks claiming (falsely) to be fiscal hawks. They defunded LWCF and spent like drunk sailors on other programs, causing the consolidation to fall about by late 1995. This was early in my days of being involved in these issues and it was a great experience to learn from those doing the heavy lifting, only to see their work be sunk by the waves of politics.
Had that exchange/consolidation not have been sunk in 1995, the controversy over the East Crazy Land Exchange would have been moot. Further evidence supporting my belief that "If you think conservation and access is expensive and complicated today, give it ten years." Or, "What if" we had got that done.
We were lucky to get an interview with Bob Gibson, former Supervisor of the Gallatin National Forest, passionate and accomplished hunter, and early leader on the Board of RMEF. His color and frankness would be welcome today. How we can put that to use to explain the "What if" Bob hadn't told the USFS they were gonna do the OTO Ranch, Dome Mountain, and other access projects in the upper Paradise Valley?
The number of "What if" stories, whether what if they hadn't got it done or what if we had got it done, is extensive, just in my part of the world. It's a fun exercise to be back planning these and trying to get them done. They take a long time. The logistics are complicated. Coordinating people who can give them context is challenging. Yet, I think stories that tell us how places were conserved, how access was created, gives us reasons for hope during times when things might seem stacked against us.
As Poz always reminded me, "Preach hope and possibility, despair inspires nobody." These stories will hopefully do that.
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