Letters to the editor Aug. 12

Dear Montana

There’s a part of me that wishes that we had never met. That I never shared your natural beauty with my family — three generations worth. That I never was awestruck in seeing wildlife such as wolves, grizzlies, elk, pronghorn and more grace the landscape.  Simply put — I wish we had never met because my heart aches.

My love for you turned sour in 2023 when I became aware of the vicious hunts and trappings, illegal poachings, unethical baiting and mistreatment of gray wolves. How ironic that a day that will forever be one of the most joyous in my life in seeing wild wolves has also been tarnished by learning about the reality facing wolves and their struggle to survive.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing to kill 500 wolves despite not knowing the true population of this keystone species, and consciously denying the best available science, ignoring world-renowned biologists and the plethora of pleas coming from concerned citizens. Montana, the wilderness is your soul and you are selling it to the lowest bidder whose only goal is to destroy and deprive others from joy.

Sadly, I cannot turn back the clock to when I thought wolves were safe. It would be selfish of me to not think about the future that I would like for children, and for the rights and respect of Indigenous Nations. Selfish of me to not stand up against generational hate and ignorance for a species that has been damned since colonization and which I will call and coin the term systemic species-ism.  

Beautiful Montana, please be a voice for wolves on Aug. 21, 8:30 a.m. in Helena. After all, this fight for wolves is not just for wolves, but it is the fight for the future of our public and wild lands.

— Christine Goulet, Ayer, Mass.

What’s to love?

One day I read that Republicans are trying to convince me that when I actually see what’s in President Trump’s big tax cut bill, that I’ll love what I see. 

The next day I read that the big tax cut bill is ending subsidies to my health insurance with the Affordable Care Act and will jack up my premiums 75%. So it’ll be my biggest annual expense, bar none. 

What’s not to love, you Trump sycophants?

— Mark Suppelsa, Bigfork