Sept. 20 celebration marks anniversary of Wilderness Act

 On Sept. 20 in Kalispell, the Go Wild! Flathead Wilderness event will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.

This fun family event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 20, at the Expo Building at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell. 

Conservation groups and government agencies are working together to bring booths and educational displays on the history, geography, wildlife and environment of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, the Mission Mountains Wilderness, the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and Glacier National Park.

Outside will be a self-guided Wilderness Skills Trail with stations on wilderness elements and Leave No Trace behind information, a Dutch oven cooking demonstration, and a cross-cut saw and tool display demonstrating how crews maintain wilderness trails.

The Forest Service’s Nine Mile Mule Pack Train will be on hand all day and will put on a special parade demonstration from 2 to 2:30 p.m. in the fairgrounds grandstand arena. 

Doug MacCarter and Beth Watne of the Wild Wings Recovery Center will have several raptors on display from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Back Country Horsemen of the Flathead will give packing demonstrations and the Glacier Institute will lead a Go Wild children’s activity at 1:30 p.m.

Representatives from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will give an invocation at noon. The keynote speaker will be Stewart Branborg, who pushed the Wilderness Act through its final legislative approval. Branborg’s talk at 12:15 p.m. will be followed by free cake celebrating the anniversary.

Live music will be provided by the Moonshine Mountain Band in the morning and by Fresh Off The Vine in the afternoon.

Porteus BBQ will sell food and drinks throughout the day. Door prizes include a Dutch oven from Cabela’s and a Monte Dolack poster.

Visitors can pose next to a life-size photo of Bob Marshall and learn about his epic solo hike in 1928 through the wilderness that now bears his name. Guests are encouraged to come dressed as Marshall and prizes will be awarded to the best Bob Marshall lookalike.

For more information, go online to www.bmwf.org/events or call 387-3847.

Sponsors of the celebration include the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Flathead Audubon, U.S. Forest Service, Flathead National Forest, Glacier National Park, Headwaters Montana, Montana Wilderness Association, the Sustainability Fund, the Swan Rangers and the Wilderness Society.