PEAK EPEAKXP ERIENCEEXPERIENCE The Newsletter for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Inc. Volume 10, Number 4 • July/August 2014 Mission Statement Celebrating 50 Years of “Spanning the Idaho/Montana border, the Scotchmans are one of the last, Wilderness! and largest, wild areas in our region. By Sandy Compton We conduct education, outreach and The Scotchman Peaks proposal may stewardship activities to preserve the not be a wilderness yet, but when it rugged, scenic and biologically diverse becomes one, it will be in part through 88,000 acre Scotchman Peaks Roadless the efforts of forward–thinking folks who Area. We believe the Scotchman Peaks finally (after nearly a decade of trying) deserve congressional designation passed the Wilderness Act of 1964 50 years ago this summer. To celebrate as Wilderness for the benefit and this golden anniversary Friends of enjoyment of current and future Scotchman Peaks Wilderness (as well generations.” as some our partners in wilderness) are It may not always be dry in the throwing a party. Or two. Or more. Peaks, but it’s always beautiful and As part of a nationwide, year-long cel- always a place to celebrate the value of wilderness. Jim Mellen photo ebration, FSPW, Montana Wilderness Association, the Forest Service, Cabinet Resource Group and Idaho Conservation League, Yaak Valley Forest Council and Cabinet Backcountry Horsemen are teaming up on a number of events arrayed around the Scotchman Peaks and Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. We invite you to any and all, as celebrant or volunteer — and ideally, both! July 11, 12 and 13: Celebrate the 50th at Bull Lake! Help celebrate the 50th birthday of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, as well as the Wilderness Act itself, at the grounds at Bull Lake Rod and Gun Club on Montana Highway 56 (17 miles north of the intersection of Montana Highways 200 and 56). This is a highly appropriate place to kick off a summer of celebra- tions, caught between the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness — one of the origi- nal 1964 designations — and the Scotchman Peaks proposed wilderness. This free event is three days of family activities and entertainment, including classical and bluegrass music, horse shoes, fly tying and fish- ing demos, a demonstration from Cabinet Backcountry Horsemen, pup- pet shows, kayak lessons and a full schedule of wilderness-related family Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, activities. The new movie, Untrammeled will be shown, as well as other wil- Inc. (FSPW) is a non-profit organization. derness films; singer-songwriter Jack Gladstone entertains on Friday night; The proceeds from all events and sales and former USFS Chief Dale Bosworth will speak on Saturday night. And benefit our wilderness preservation efforts. there will be a chance to gather round the fire at lake’s edge for conversa- Donations are tax deductible. tion and stories gathered in wild places. If you are receiving this newsletter In addition to each day’s activities, food will be available from the Rod by mail and have an email address please help us and Gun Club kitchen and other vendors; the Silver Spur in Troy will have save postage by sending us your email address. a cash bar in place for the evening entertainments on both Friday and Saturday, free camping at the Club will be available on a first-come-first- Editor: Ann Wimberley Layout and design: Celeste Boatwright Grace Continued page 6 Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Inc. • PO Box 2061, Sandpoint, ID 83864 Want More Info? Check Our Website: www.scotchmanpeaks.org PEAK EXPERIENCE 2 Scholarship Winners Announced The 2014 Friends of Emma McConnaughey, wins the writer another $300. And this Scotchman Peaks Wilderness year, we added another category, Best Due Diligence, for the essay scholarship competi- student who works hardest to win. Kaylin Robinson, who goes tion garnered over three to Noxon, won $100 for being the first submission (weeks ahead dozen entries from eight high of anyone else) and for faithfully and regularly checking back to schools arrayed around the see what the status was. (She wrote a pretty good essay, also.) Scotchman Peaks. Each year Emma’s essay and circumstances are all encompassing for the past 5 years, graduat- of the Scotchmans. She attends Forrest Bird Charter High ing seniors from Troy, Libby, School in Sandpoint, she lives in Bonners Ferry and her Thompson Falls and Noxon, essay adventure took place in Callahan Creek, which is in Montana, as well as Clark Fork Montana and Idaho at the north end of the West Cabinets. and Sandpoint high schools, were invited to submit per- The scholarship winners this year were: sonal essays on a wilder- Clark Fork — Lyndsie Kiebert — $300 Emma McConnaughy’s “A ness theme. For the past few years, the theme has been “A Forrest M. Bird Charter School — Emma McConnaughey Life Saving Event” was best (Best overall) — $600 overall essay in the 2014 essay Most Memorable Wilderness scholarship competition Experience.” Libby — Jared Winslow — $300 Photo courtesy of Lake Pend Oreille High — Andrea Carnegie — $300 Emma McConnaughy “We’ve kept this theme for a few years,” said FSPW Program Noxon — Dustin Wolfe — $300 Coordinator Sandy Compton, “and will probably continue to do so because it evokes some great first-person stories from Noxon — Kaylin Robinson (Best Due Diligence) — $100 kids about time spent in wild places. We have stories about Sandpoint High School — Nathan Schwartz — $300 first hunts, family camping trips — including some very funny Thompson Falls — Daniel Kanak — $300 disaster stories — and transformative journeys that have made a profound difference in the writers’ lives. Troy — Megan Hight — $300 The best essay from each high school wins the writer $300 to The winning essays are posted at www.scotchmanpeaks.org/ spend in any manner they choose. The best overall, this year category/blog/ STOKR- Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River By Molly Kieran were locked. Then when we got to the site, food and supplies Lincoln County Coordinator intact, we found our open tent A few hundred bicyclists joined covers were twisted, broken in a 98 mile ride sponsoring and laying on the ground com- Habitat for Humanity. The ride pletely unusable. No big deal started in Libby and contin- to outdoorsman like us, except ued next to the Kootenai River how would we serve food and through Troy then up to the drinks in the rain. Not to worry Yaak along the Yaak River. Once it turned out to be a rainless in the Yaak they headed south day. Good thing because we along Pipe Creek then turned had the wrong keys for the right and across the Kootenai to shelter to be used by the arrive back in Libby. This path is cyclists. When you are work- what locals call the Yaak Attack. Chuck Rude, Don Clark, Monni Clark, Charlie Clough Photo by Molly Kieran ing alongside great folks like The ride covers absolutely Charlie Clough, Don & Monni beautiful country and brings in riders from several states and Clark, and Chuck Rude every moment is just plain fun. I can’t Canada. The cyclists stop at a couple locations for food and thank them all enough for the time and positive energy they beverage and that’s where you will find some Friends of the give. This was Charlie, Monni and Don’s 5th and last year as Scotchman Peaks serving and visiting with these enthusiasts. volunteers for this event. It’s a ton of work and we have been It was a little more challenging to us this year when we dis- so very fortunate to have them represent the Friends in such a covered the doors to the location of all the food and supplies generous way. Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Inc. • PO Box 2061, Sandpoint, ID 83864 Want More Info? Check Our Website: www.scotchmanpeaks.org 3 PEAK EXPERIENCE Message from the Executive Director “Why do we work on trails?” The plodding pace of congress is enough to move one to swing Sometimes people ask us why work on trails? It’s easy to say that a shovel, just to work off some of the frustration of waiting. in an era of shrinking budgets we are partnering with the forest But, trail stewardship is more than simply finding something service to ensure quiet recreational access to the Scotchman to do while we are waiting for congress to do something. Peaks. While technically correct that answer skips over a lot. We are showing that citizen supporters who advocate for I think the best answer is that we are exercising freedom. Wilderness will also support wilderness through stewardship. Seasonally appropriate since in July we celebrate our nation’s There is a constituency willing to work for Wilderness now independence. More importantly, in Wilderness we find our own and continue to sweat for it later. individual freedom. By building and maintaining trails we help Still, I think that poet and conservationist Gary Snyder put it to provide a way for people to find themselves in Wilderness best, in his book Practice of the Wild: “With no surroundings and, in doing so, to exercise their freedom. there can be no path, and with no path one cannot become free.” In Wilderness we are free to travel away from the crowds, We build and maintain trails in wilderness because of the noises and concerns of our daily lives. Successful Wilderness places the trail take us, because of the surroundings. I believe travel requires a determination and attention to surround- that as well as the landscape, the surroundings Gary speaks ings. When we focus on the moment we are in, then we free of are more personal, they are the surroundings of our very ourselves from the concerns of our everyday lives.