Letter: Poll numbers tell story on wilderness

Dear Editor:

In a letter the first week of this month, Harvey Fredericksen said that “the people of Lincoln County in past elections have turned down wilderness by huge margins …”

No matter how much he or anyone else would like to believe this, it’s simply not true.

Wilderness designation is not decided by a local vote, but by an act of congress. What some erroneously consider to have been a “vote” on wilderness was an opinion poll set up by the Lincoln County commissioners in May 1991 to try and gauge how people felt about the “Kootenai accords.”

This was a proposal to release slightly over half the roadless acres on the forest to development, in exchange for seeking wilderness protection for the remainder.

Among people who participated, those opposed to any additional wilderness on the Kootenai (1,487) far outnumbered accord supporters (501), and it is on the basis of these two numbers that some believe more wilderness was resoundingly rejected.

Yet there were two other options available to participants in the poll: all roadless acres as wilderness (118), or support for the Forest Service recommendation for wilderness (2,458). If these last two numbers are totaled with the number of accord supporters, it becomes evident that slightly over two-thirds of those who took part in the poll supported more wilderness on the Kootenai National Forest.

So much for the myth of overwhelming opposition. These poll numbers are on file at the Lincoln County clerk and recorder’s office.

Bill Martin

Troy