Help Stop Large Commercial Events on the Flathead National Forest!

Your comments are needed NOW to help stop a 700-person trail-running event and help shape commercial guiding on the Flathead National Forest!

The Flathead has requested public comment on 12 Special Use Permits it is proposing for recreational events, shuttles and guiding services this summer.

Among them is Whitefish Legacy Partners' request for a permit to again run its trail-running race from Whitefish to the top of Big Mountain and back, but this time with up to 400 runners and an additional 300 spectators and volunteers! (These numbers provided by the Forest Service are inconsistent with WLP's permit application).

Foys to Blacktail Trails appears to be repeating the 100-trail-runner-maximum race it held last year, when retired FWS Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator Chris Servheen wrote in opposition to these risky foot races in bear habitat.

UPDATE JULY 11, 2020: A trail-runner physically collided with a grizzly bear in Glacier National Park, but was lucky to escape with minor injuries as the forgiving bear ran off. This should not become a huge spectator sport via Forest Service special use permits!

Also among the slew of SUPs are requests for guided tours for ATVs, hikers and bikers, as well as shuttle services - in critical wildlife habitats and some on roads closed to protect wildlife security!

Here are some suggestions for your comments, which must be submitted by May 1:

1. Do not permit trail-running races due to the documented increased risk to people, bears and other wildlife. It also sends the wrong message about how people should safely recreate in the habitat of bears and mountain lions.

2. Do permit slow-paced hiking and biking activities that help people get heart-healthy exercise while teaching responsible conduct in the habitat of bears and mountain lions.

3. Do not permit ATV tours, van tours and other motorized events that burn fossil fuels and hasten climate change in the name of recreation.

4. Do not permit commercially guided hiking and biking tours on roads closed to motorized use to provide wildlife security. These roads already receive non-commercial human use. Additional commercial use will result in even less wildlife security.

5. Do not permit large group tours and events where COVID-19 social distancing requirements cannot be met. Montana is currently among the least infected states in the country and we'd like to keep it that way.

Please send your comments by May 1 to all three of the following Ranger District addresses:

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Click here to read our 4-page letter to the Flathead.

Click here for our single page of additional concerns after seeing the permit applications.

Click here for the Flathead's brief description of the proposed permits.

THANK YOU for taking a moment to comment on these issues important to the health of people and wildlife!

Click here for the Daily Inter Lake news article.

Click here for the Hungry Horse News article.

Click here for two critical letters to editors: 1. Robert Hermes led and largely funded the establishment of the Lakeside to Blacktail Trail and, though a long-distance runner himself, says "trails in the national forest are just not the right venue" for marathon races; 2. Carol Edwards, a resident of Polebridge, lays out how the public has been given "short shrift and silenced before they ever got a chance to speak" on these permit issues.

Click here for a Hungry Horse News column opposing the SUPs and process.

Click here for a Missoulian article about Forest Service directives to issue more special use permits more quickly to "be more responsible to customer needs."

Scroll down to view the maps and supplemental information we've been able to obtain from the Forest Service thus far. (You may need to click on "Read Full Article" to make them appear).

Maps:

Click here for the Action Rentals map.
Click here for the Adventure Cycling maps.
Click here for the Cycling House maps.
Click here for the Foys to Blacktail map.
Click here for the Journey to Wellness maps.
Click here for the Kiwanis Club map.
Click here for the NW Adventures map.
Click here for the Powdered Soul map.
Click here for the Spotted Dog maps.
Click here for the Whitefish Bike Retreat map.
Click here for the Whitefish Shuttle maps.
Click here for the Whitefish Legacy Partnership map.

Other Information:

Click here for the Flathead NF's supplemental permit descriptions.
Click here for Adventure Cycling's Region 1 tour itinerary.
Click here for Adventure Cycling's Region 1 tour maps.
Click here for Cycling House's tour itinerary.
Click here for Spotted Dog's tour itinerary.
Click here for the Spotted Dog activity description.

Special Use Permit Applications (partially redacted by USFS):

Click here for the Action Rentals application.
There is no 2020 Adventure Cycling application.
Click here for the Cycling House application.
Click here for the Foys to Blacktail application.
There is no 2020 Journey to Wellness application.
Click here for the Kiwanis Club application.
Click here for the NW Adventures application.
Click here for the Powdered Soul application.
Click here for the Spotted Dog application.
Click here for the Whitefish Bike Retreat application.
Click here for the Whitefish Shuttle application.
Click here for the Whitefish Legacy Partnership application.

This article published on April 26, 2020 • [Permalink]

Swan View Coalition recently released a report based on its 2022 inspection of 303 Forest Service road closure devices in the Flathead National Forest’s Swan Valley Geographic Area. The group found only 53% of the gates, berms and boulders showed no signs of motor vehicle use behind them. When adjusted to account for Forest Service exceptions allowing administrative and logging contractor use behind closures, effectiveness rose to only 68%, far short of the 92% effectiveness claimed by the Flathead NF for 2019-2020.

Your prompt donation to support our work will be matched/doubled by Cinnabar Foundation!

Your email is needed today to push back on 25 commercial Special Use Permits being issued on the Flathead National Forest!

Our Winter-Spring newsletter asks you to send a quick email to help stop DNRC from logging the last of its hemlock forests in Krause Basin, then shows how DNRC's proposal aligns with federal proposals that also promote logging to "restore" forests to false "historic" conditions. We provide links to a growing body of research revealing a "falsification of the scientific record in government-funded wildfire studies" that are being used to promote the logging of native forests.

MT DNRC intends to log more of what little native hemlock forest it hasn't logged already in Krause Basin! Please help us stop this phony "forest restoration" now!

Wake up! A generous donor has agreed to match $5,000 in donations to Swan View Coalition! So DONATE NOW and see your donation doubled!

Our Holidays 2022 newsletter looks at how recreation gets out of control on public lands and what we can do about it. It also provides a brief summary of our work in 2022 and why your membership is important!

This Thanksgiving we are thankful to have public lands worth protecting and your support of our work to do so!

Our Summer-Fall 2022 newsletter examines two major public relations blunders by the Flathead National Forest as it attempts to force recreational development on a public that is tired of seeing its public lands turned into playgrounds for the rich and racy! We also announce the resumption of our biweekly Swan Range Community Potlucks and Music Jam Sessions - and our Annual Membership Meeting to be held November 20.

The Flathead National Forest is attempting to approve a mega-expansion of the Holland Lake Lodge on public land without informed public input and with no Environmental Assessment or Impact Statement. Tell the Flathead NOW to back up and start again!

Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan are in the process of filing three new lawsuits against the revised Flathead Forest Plan's building of logging roads in threatened grizzly bear and bull trout habitat!

Our Winter-Spring 2022 newsletter takes a sobering look at how, contrary to the way forest ecosystems function and the need to keep carbon stored in trees to combat climate warming, the government and industry instead want to log/thin all the forests they can get their hands on while building all the more logging roads to get it done!

Your comments are needed to object to commercial permits that promote crowding of the Flathead National Forest!

The Forest Service cannot ask the Krause Basin Collaborative for group/consensus recommendations, only individual advice.

This page documents promises made by the Flathead National Forest to close all trails in Krause Basin to motorized use after designating it a Wildlife Management Area and mandating that the trails "not be marked on the ground."

Our Holidays 2021 newsletter pays tribute to the late Brian Peck, calls for truth to restore hope, previews a guide to how forest ecosystems function, and asks for your help raising $20,000 in December!

A federal judge has ruled in favor of grizzly bears and bull trout in our lawsuit against the revised Flathead Forest Plan!

Our Summer-Fall 2021 newsletter reports on our continued advocacy and volunteer work, asks you to tell Glacier Park to end its noisy commercial air tours NOW and announces our October 10 general membership meeting!

Your prompt donation to support our work will be matched/doubled by Cinnabar Foundation!

Please sign up today to help plan recreation management in the wildlife-rich Krause Basin!

As COVID precautions loosen, we remain hard at work and will continue our weekly Swan Ranger reports, but will not resume Saturday Swan Ranger group outings.

Your email today can help stop motorized dirt bike tours in Krause Basin and other harmful Special Use Permits on the Flathead National Forest!

Please take five minutes to tell the Forest Service not to build four rental cabins adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the remote Bunker Creek area!

Our Winter-Spring 2021 newsletter gives the history of the wildlife-rich Krause Basin, including past threats and current threats, along with our plan to restore calm, reverence and respect for people and wildlife - in the face of Forest Service plans to instead develop it into a Focused Recreation Area.

You can send a two-minute email today objecting to half-square-mile clearcuts proposed above Swan Lake!

Our Holidays 2020 newsletter remembers Jack Tuholske, reports on new research on the impacts of mountain bikes and roads, details how the Flathead NF is ramping up its road building and logging, presents a poem and warm thoughts from our members, and thanks you for your kind words and financial support in 2020!

Your quick email is needed by Nov 6!

Massive logging and habitat fragmentation scam called "landscape restoration" - YOUR EMAILS NEEDED TODAY!

Our Summer-Fall 2020 newsletter reports on how we are not distracted by COVID-19 and the run-up to the November elections, how the "Good Neighbor Authority" is just another "Good Ol' Boy" privatization of public resources, bids farewell to Jim Posewitz, announces our October 11 membership meeting, and reminds you that your prompt donations will be matched/doubled by Cinnabar Foundation!

Your emails are needed to help protect the Echo-Broken Leg, Crater Notch, Hall Creek, Bond Creek and other trail areas from "salvage" logging!

Our Spring 2020 newsletter reports on how we are dealing with COVID-19, a federal judge twice thwarting the Flathead's efforts to hide its Forest Planning records, the downward spiral of forest thinning and commercial recreation, and Cinnabar Foundation once again willing to match/double your donations!

Research shows COVID-19 social distancing must be increased while hiking, running and biking!

Your comments are needed NOW to help stop a 700-person trail-running event and help shape commercial guiding on the Flathead NF!

Now is your chance to advise Governor Steve Bullock that you don't want Montana to authorize the sport hunting of grizzly bears!

Swan View Coalition has suspended until further notice its every-Saturday Swan Ranger Outings and its every-other-Sunday Community Potluck and Music Jam Sessions, due to coronavirus concerns.

Our Winter 2020 newsletter reports on the Forest Service's return to its road-building binge, how it is trashing our climate, what we are doing about it, and how the government is trying to use executive privilege to hide Flathead Forest planning documents from public and judicial review!

The revised Flathead Forest Plan pledged to maintain the on-the-ground grizzly bear habitat conditions that existed in 2011, in order to be consistent with the NCDE Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy. Now the Flathead says it will not maintain those levels of habitat security as it increases human development of bear habitat!

Your comments on permitting a commercial shuttle and ski/snowshoe guide service on the Flathead NF's Round Meadow Winter Trails are due Dec 22!

Patagonia will match/double your donation to support the work of Swan View Coalition if you donate now!

Our Holidays 2019 newsletter takes a look at what each of us can do to minimize our consumption of natural resources and to minimize our disruption of wildlife when recreating!

Our Summer-Fall 2019 newsletter reports on how the broader public voice is being sidelined as the Forest Service pursues new regulations, collaboration and public-private partnerships to more quickly serve private interests!

Your prompt donation to support our work will be matched/doubled by Cinnabar Foundation!

Dr. Chris Servheen says he opposes the issuance of Special Use Permits for ultra-marathon trail-running races in bear habitat and wants permits for mountain bike guiding to comply with interagency recommendations for minimizing bear-human conflicts.

Tell the Flathead NF today to not issue Special Use Permits for irresponsible recreation!

Our Winter-Spring 2019 newsletter reports on how the revised Flathead Forest Plan is ushering in lawlessness - and why we are suing over it!

Your are invited to practice the Swan Crest Crawl and mindful recreation!

Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan have filed a lawsuit over the Flathead Forest Plan's abandonment of key protections for threatened grizzly bear and bull trout!

Dr. David Mattson questions government claims of grizzly bear recovery in this hour-long video and this Report, presenting an alternative vision of robust recovery for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.

President Trump and the Flathead National Forest issued orders over the Holidays that will greatly increase the logging of public lands in the New Year!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy Solstice, Holidays and New Year!

Our Holiday 2018 newsletter reports on a temporary legal victory for grizzly bears, but how agencies remain committed to removing their ESA protections in the greater Yellowstone and Glacier ecosystems!

The Court's restoration of ESA protection to the Yellowstone grizzly bears does not stop the planned removal of those protections in the Glacier/NCDE area!

Please tell the State of Montana you want far more than 800 grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem so it can reconnect with Yellowstone and other isolated ecosystems!

Our Summer-Fall newsletter reports on how federal and state agencies are in lockstep to delist the NCDE grizzly bear and reduce its habitat protections in Forest Plans!

Please take 5 minutes to urge the Flathead Forest Supervisor to select the Forest Plan option that removes motor vehicles from Krause Basin!

Your comments are needed today to secure wildlife habitat on the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir!

Our Winter-Spring newsletter reports on how Objections to the Flathead Forest Plan show who's fighting for fish and wildlife and who's selling them out to make it appear consensus has been reached on forest management!

Conservation groups wanting better protection for fish and wildlife in the Northern Rockies filed Objections to the revised Flathead Forest Plan and Amendments to four other Forest Plans in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

UPDATE: Swan View Coalition testified on behalf of 15 other groups and organizations at a July 7 Grizzly Bear Habitat Workshop in Missoula, MT, and submitted more comments in January 2018.

If you commented in 2015 or 2016 on the draft Flathead Forest Plan in favor of more Wilderness and a non-motorized Krause Basin, you have until February 12 to express your disappointment with the final Forest Plan and ask for changes!

The Flathead National Forest dumped 3,000 pages of documents on the public over the holidays and Fish and Wildlife piled more on - all intended to strip Endangered Species Act protections from Glacier- and Yellowstone-area grizzly bears!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Swan View Coalition has issued its critical review of the Biological Assessment of the final revised Flathead Forest Plan, along with Friends of the Wild Swan.

Keith Hammer has issued three Supplements to his "Roads to Ruin" and "TMRD" reports, providing documents showing logging roads must have their stream-bearing culverts removed, then the roads must be removed from the Flathead Forest Road System and revegetated before they can be omitted from calculations of Total Motorized Route Density.

Our Holiday Newsletter looks at recognizing and protecting nature's gifts, rather than simply imposing our will on the world!

Swan View Coalition, Friends of the Wild Swan and WildEarth Guardians put the Flathead National Forest on notice they will file suit over logging road impacts to bull trout.

Our Fall 2017 newsletter uses illustrations and science to debunk the "logging prevents wildfire" myth, describing how we can protect our homes while letting fire play its essential role in forest ecosystems!

Your quick email is needed today to keep Flathead hiking trails from being turned into freeways for mountain bikes!

Our Summer 2017 newsletter takes a quick look at delay in release of the Revised Flathead Forest Plan and two Swan Valley timber sales, in light of persistent efforts by the Flathead to weaken protections for threatened bull trout and grizzly bear, noting local communities are getting fed up with the roads, weeds and ATVs that follow logging!

The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate! Urge your Senators and Representatives to support NREPA today!

Your quick email is needed TODAY to stop logging and the building of another 45 miles of roads and trails in threatened wildlife habitat near Whitefish, MT!

Our Winter-Spring 2017 newsletter announces two reports on the bike-bear death of Brad Treat, examines the role irresponsible commerce plays in the devaluation of the public good, reports on how public-private partnerships help privatize public lands, and urges people to resist the hype in order to re-create a sustainable relationship to the earth!

Your email is needed today to stop the takeover of National Forest lands in the Swan Valley by Lake County!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy New Year and issues a last call for 2016 support!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

Please tell the Flathead National Forest to not approve high-speed mountain bike trails in the area where one of its employees was killed in July when he literally ran into a grizzly bear while "riding his mountain bike at high speed!"

Please DONATE NOW to help us secure quiet habitats for fish, wildlife and people!

Our Holiday Newsletter renews our pledge to fight for public wildlands and restoration, reports on the growing national support for it, and notes the pitfalls of local collaboration!

Thanks to your comments and grassroots networking, support is growing for our Citizen reVision of the Flathead Forest Plan! See our Fall 2016 newsletter!

Let the Flathead National Forest know TODAY that you support Alternative C's new wilderness recommendations and prohibiting mechanized vehicles in those 507,000 acres of roadless lands!

Your short emails and letters are needed NOW to protect wildlands and wildlife habitat in the revised Flathead Forest Plan!

Here are links to SVC's comments on the Draft Revised Flathead Forest Plan, proposed grizzly bear amendments to four other NCDE Forest Plans, and their Draft Environmental Impact Statements (DEISs).

Want to protect all wildlands and restore damaged habitats on the Flathead National Forest? We make it simple in our Summer 2016 newsletter!

The Forest Service is holding open houses in Kalispell and Missoula, June 20 and 22, to unveil its Draft EISs for a revised Flathead Forest Plan and revised grizzly bear management on four other Forests. Fish and Wildlife Service is holding a hearing in Missoula July 7 to take public comment on grizzly bear de-listing in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem that includes those five Forests!

Our Winter-Spring 2016 newsletter releases our new report "Roads to Ruin," describes how our investigations have already helped secure more road decommissioning for bull trout in the Swan Valley, and describes how the report will help us all wrestle with the revised Flathead Forest Plan and Grizzly Bear De-Listing DEISs due out May 27!

Your 5-minute letter is needed by February 11 to stop logging damage to a recovering burned area near the Great Bear Wilderness!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy New Year and says Thank You for your support of our work in 2015!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy Winter and Happy Holidays!

We need your help TODAY to stop Congress from attaching damaging logging riders to the must-pass spending bill!

Our Holidays 2015 newsletter celebrates spirited grass-roots conservation, faith, passion, and the support of our members!

Swan View Coalition wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the last call to have your donation matched by Cinnabar Foundation!

Only a few weeks left to have your support of our work doubled by Cinnabar Foundation!

Though burning wood to produce electricity releases more carbon into the atmosphere than burning coal, the European Union says it releases no carbon at all - a bald-face trick of accounting that may be followed by the U.S.'s EPA!

Researcher Diana Six faults logging as a misguided substitute for forest thinning by beetles!

Facts are getting in the way of attempts to blame fires on a lack of logging and to blame a lack of logging on environmental lawsuits!

Our Summer-Fall 2015 newsletter looks at the politics of logging and wildfires, and tracks the millions of dollars the Forest Service is paying its collaborative "partners!"

A celebration of Bruce May's life will be held Sunday, June 7, 2015 at the Whitefish Community Center, 121 Second Street, Whitefish, MT, from 3-6 pm!

Wilderness slide show by author Frederick Swanson May 13, 7-9 pm, at the Swan River Community Hall!

Our Spring 2015 newsletter provides a bit of background and 7 points we'd like you to consider making in your comments on the Proposed Flathead Forest Plan by May 15!