Voters support some roads in roadless areas

Flathead County voters have once again shown a lopsided view of federal roadless areas, with 65 percent saying roadless lands "should be managed for multiple use purposes including motorized recreation and roaded timber production."

With most of the votes counted, 7,796 voters supported that option, while 4,321 supported the alternative of managing roadless areas "for non-motorized recreation and roadless timber production."

The results were comparable to those from a similar question asked of voters in Flathead, Lincoln and Sanders counties in 2000. But that ballot question was heavily criticized for being misleading.

The roadless ballot question appearing on primary election ballots Tuesday was developed by a task force appointed by the Flathead County commissioners. It does not provide binding direction for the U.S. Forest Service, but the results will be useful for those who want to influence Forest Service management of roadless areas.

"I guess the idea of this advisory question is to tell all of our elected officials, all the way up to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, what their constituents feel about these roadless areas, at least in Flathead County," said Fred Hodgeboom, President of Montanans for Multiple Use.

Schweitzer will give the federal government official state input on roadless management questions. The Bush administration asked governors to submit petitions to the Forest Service by the end of year.

"We really want Gov. Schweitzer to pay attention to this," said Hodgeboom, who says the upshot of the ballot question is that the Forest Service should have "flexibility" in managing roadless areas.

"I don't think anybody, including Montanans for Multiple Use, wants to put roads in all these areas," he said. "That's out of the question. All we're asking for is the flexibility for local, site-specific planning" in roadless areas.

The ballot question, he noted, also provides a strong rebuttal from Flathead County to claims that blanket protections for roadless areas are widely supported by the public.

Roadless protection advocates frequently point to the public comments that led to a Clinton administration rule providing blanket protections to roadless areas. That public comment process produced strong nationwide backing for the Clinton rule.

"We don't believe that write-in campaign represented the mainstream public at all," Hodgeboom said. "It was orchestrated by special interests."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com