At the recent Montana Wilderness Association convention Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Board member and Cabinet Resource Group founder Bill Martin was honored for his volunteer work with a “Brass Lantern Award.”
Here’s how MWA describes the Brass Lantern Award: “Each year, the Montana Wilderness Association presents Brass Lantern awards to honor members, friends, and supporters who have given exceptional service to wilderness. The recipients are people who have taken action that promotes Wilderness, quiet trails, and responsible management of our public lands.”
In presenting the award, MWA President Elect and FSPW Vice Chair, Doug Ferrell read his nomination of Bill Martin:
“Bill Martin has been one of the most persistent, thoughtful, original and creative voices for conservation in NW Montana, for nearly 40 years. His friends refer to him simply as “The one and only”.
This is partly because his way of considering problems and opportunities is often brilliantly unique, and leaves listeners scratching their heads, and all the while the gears are running inside their heads, trying to connect the dots that were so obvious to Bill. The eureka moments that follow can be very illuminating.
Bill is an original founder and still a mainstay of the Cabinet Resouce Group, a classic grassroots fixture on the Kootenai Forest for over 30 years. CRG has published a newsletter and promoted a thoughtful approach to resource management, more or less steadily, all this time.
Bill is a forester, hunter, woodsman, tree planter, stonemason, collector of vinyl records, student of philosophy, and with many more talents too numerous or too obscure to mention here. One of his greatest talents is his ability to relate to and form friendships with all kinds of people, especially including the opponents of conservation, and the workers and rural residents around his community near Troy, Montana.
And Bill is a wonderful friend to his many, many friends scattered all over the state. Thank you Bill, for applying your wonderful character to the values we all hold dear – friendship, community, respect and appreciation for the beautiful natural world we all live in.”
Congratulations Bill!!!
posted by Phil Hough
