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From the early 1970’s through the early 2000’s I made, eight or 10 budget-priced treks into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, sometimes afoot, sometimes on horseback, accompanied by friends or family members. Outside of a few livestock wrecks and occasional blistered feet, I never had a bad trip. I learned a lot about camping, landforms, livestock, and about myself. I learned to love the Bob just for its existence, whether or not I ever visit it again, and I learned to admire the far-sighted folks who set this ground aside in its most isolated possible form.

Fortunately, not once did I ever encounter anything which would hint of limited access to this aptly-labeled “crown jewel” of Montana’s back country. Apparently, I would have needed a seat in Washington, D.C., to envision what the Bob really needs – a half-dozen or more airstrips right smack in the middle of the woods and mountains.

At least that’s what Senator Steve Daines envisions from his chair there, as evidenced by his letter of June 15, 2018, to Mr. Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture, another person whom, I am sure, has a clear vision for the Bob. Daines asks Mr. Perdue to expedite the opening of such airstrips as a way of providing access for Montana’s hikers and backpackers (I do wonder how you can be one without being the other in the Bob). This would be a boon, Daines says, to the recreation industry in our state, providing access which, I guess, is not currently possible.

When I think of airstrips, I think of noise, pollution, infrastructure development, crowds (though they’d obviously be the better sort of people, considering the potential costs of plane fare), and general disruption of the solitude formerly marred only by the clink of horse hooves against rock, or the occasional curses of a sore-footed hiker. Or, as I encountered once, the proud and happy shouting of an entire Boy Scout troop that had made it all the way into the Danaher Meadows on foot.

But, trying to be open-minded, I decided that what the heck. Planes buzzing over your campsite, more people, landing lights, maybe some tasteful hotel concessions, perhaps someday even a convenience store, all seems a reasonable price to pay for an interim solution to this knotty access-problem, doesn’t it, until somebody finally allows a road up the North Fork of the Blackfoot, down the South Fork of the Flathead, with some judicious transfer of lands from public to private ownership along the way?

I mean, how else would this access problem be solved, and where else could you get this kind new kind of experience?

All cleverness aside, Daines’ request is a straight-up, money-driven betrayal.

Ron Rude, Plains