A week of fun in the Flathead

Inter Lake editorial

Take your pick of big events in the Flathead Valley this week: the International Fly Fishing Show and Conclave, The Event at Rebecca Farm, Arts in the Park, Columbia Falls Heritage Days, the Glacier Rod Run.

That means that whether you're interested in fishing, horses, art, hot rods or just community fun, there are plenty of options.

And two of this week's headline acts - the Event and the Conclave - promise to attract an estimated 3,600 out-of-town visitors.

The economic impact from this week's events alone could total more than $1 million.

Add to that the normal aggregation of visitors to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake or other outdoors destinations, and it looks like a busy week in the Flathead.

This week's mini-boom is welcome indeed for the area hospitality industry, which has endured a string of smoky summers that on occasion choked tourism.

Judge Donald Molloy's decision Friday to restore endangered species protections for the gray wolf in the Northern Rockies was predictable and troubling.

It was predictable because Molloy has regularly sided with environmentalists in their lawsuits against the federal government, and there was no reason to expect him to do anything different this time.

It was troubling because just three weeks ago the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ultimately will have jurisdiction over the case, overturned one of its own rulings and said that judges must decide cases on the basis of law, not science.

Molloy seems not to have gotten the message, as he stopped wolf hunts scheduled in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho on the basis that the federal government had not met its standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding between various populations of wolves.

"Genetic exchange has not taken place," Molloy wrote with a certitude usually not heard in scientific debate.

Curiously, Ed Bangs - the noted biologist who has led the wolf restoration project - said the science used to delist the wolves was "biologically sound" and "rock solid." But what does he know?

We hope that as long as Judge Molloy remains on the bench, he heeds the 9th Circuit's recent ruling. In that case, he will let the biologists do what they are paid to do - make professional decisions based on science.