Stop the Takeover of National Forest Lands in the Swan Valley Now!

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

UPDATED February 6, 2017:

Jim Simpson of the Lake County Conservation District is trying to ignore the majority against him and listen only to those who own land in Lake County and support his effort to take over 60,000 acres of the Flathead National Forest. He wants more public comment, so let's give it to him!

Please see the MT NPR artice at http://mtpr.org/post/silent-majority-state-management-federal-lands or the suggested email content below, then send an email to the Lake County Conservation District at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)!

Even if you wrote in back in December, please do so again! Here's suggested content for your email:

Dear Mr. Simpson and Lake County Conservation District Board;

As an American taxpayer, I am co-owner of the Flathead National Forest - 60,000 acres of which you want to seize control of, log and rob the profits from! I am adamantly opposed to your idea!

You’ve already received 149 comments that, according to National Public Radio and in your own words “quite honestly right now are heavily opponent comments, opposed to the concept.” You’ve already wasted $40,000 in public funds pushing your idea, funds that could have been put to good use funding Lake County conservation projects instead.

Now you say you still want to find the “silent majority” in favor of your proposal. Well, you can’t arrive at a silent majority by dismissing the comments of everyone that disagrees with you or doesn’t live in Lake County, Montana.

As an American taxpayer, I co-own the NATIONAL Forest lands in Lake County and I’m telling you to kindly get your hands off of them! They do not belong to Lake County, nor do you have the right to seize control of them and the profits you’d like to reap by logging them without regard for federal environmental protections.

Please consider me among the majority OPPOSED to your proposal, which includes a couple of our own board members!

Sincerely,

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December alert and background, below:

The Lake County Conservation District wants to take over management of 60,000 acres of the Flathead National Forest in the Swan Valley so it can log them. Lake County wants to try and make more money logging than it already gets in payments from the Forest Service to Lake County.

Thankfully, not all members of the Lake County Conservation District agree. LCCD Supervisors Curt Rosman, Susan Gardner and Toni Burton recently wrote "Enough time and money have been spent on this dead end proposal. It is time to let it die and concentrate on our current responsibilities." Read their full dissent here.

Please send a quick email today to the LCCD at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Tell them you agree with Rosman, Garner and Burton that this idea should be dealt a quick death. Tell them these are federal lands belonging to all Americans, not lands at the disposal of Lake County.

Please send that same message to the Lake County Commissioners at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) !

And, if you really want to drive the message home, attend the LCCD's meeting at the Swan Lake Community Center in Swan Lake at 6:30pm, December 7th!

According to Lake County "Your feedback will help the LCCD decide if the study should be terminated or if LCCD should ask Montana's Congressional delegation to create legislation establishing a [State run] Conservation Forest in the Swan Valley on federal forest lands [to benefit Lake County].

For more information on this really bad idea, visit http://swanforestinitiative.org .

Thank you for taking a few crucial moments to put an end to this really bad idea and precedent!

This article published on February 06, 2017 • [Permalink]