Concerned about lawsuit to move trail for griz safety

This letter is addressing the article in the Western News by Duncan Adams about the Yaak Valley Forest Council’s lawsuit to reroute the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail out of the Yaak Valley to supposedly protect the grizzly bears.

Of course the obvious fallacy of this option is that the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail originates in the heart of Glacier National Park which has the largest concentrations of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states and at least 10 times the number of grizzlies believed to be living in the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone.

I don’t recall any incident where a grizzly killed any thru-hiker on the PNWT or any incident where a grizzly had to be killed because of a thru-hiker conflict.

It seems some would think all of our grizzlies are either man killers, or so shy that they would die of heart attacks if they spotted a hiker.

I remember not too many years ago when a group of “concerned citizens” brought lawsuits against the forest service in behalf of another endangered species, the spotted owl, which resulted in the shut down of the logging industry in the Northwest.

The spotted owl worked out so well against the loggers, will the grizzly bear work out as well against the hikers?

Beware of the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.

­—Robert Cheshire, Noxon, Montana