Roughly 60 miles south of Canada, the 88,000 acre Scotchman Peaks roadless area spans the Idaho-Montana border. Since the 1970s, when the U.S. Forest Service carried out extensive evaluations of lands suitable for wilderness, this rugged, scenic and biologically diverse portion of the Cabinet Mountains has been managed for its wilderness potential. The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness believe now is the time to preserve the Scotchmans, one of the last, and largest, wild areas in our region.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a collection of questions we are most frequently asked, with their respective answers. Be sure to also check our Background Facts Page for more information, and if you have other questions for which you are not able to find answers for at our website, please feel free to email us at Info@ScotchmanPeaks.org or use our Contact Page.

 
  1. Where are the Scotchmans and how large are they?
    The Scotchman Peaks is an 88,000-acre roadless area that straddles the Idaho — Montana State line and is bordered by the Clark Fork River and Highway 200 to the south, the Bull River and Highway 56 to the east, Rattle Pass Road to the north and Lightning Creek to the west.
  2. Why do they need to be designated as Wilderness?
    To preserve this area in its natural state for our future and our children’s future.  Current growth trends and future technological development could pose many threats that may be hard to predict today.
  3. What benefits would wilderness designation bring?
    Wilderness designation protects and preserves native plant and animal habitat, maintains a healthy ecosystem, helps ensure watershed quality, provides outstanding recreational opportunities, offers a place of solitude, keeps a special part of North Idaho & Montana in a state untouched by man to pass on to our children, and benefits local communities economically.
  4. Doesn’t wilderness lead to loss of jobs?
    Actually just the opposite: the Scotchman Peaks area has not been used for resource based economy such as timber and mining, and they are not in the current “timber base” so designation as a wilderness will not diminish these industries.  In fact, designated wilderness preserves the “quality-of-life” upon which most economic growth in western counties is currently based.
  5. What will the donated money be spent on?
    The “Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness” is a volunteer-driven organization with limited staff.  The funds we raise go to education and outreach to bring about a community awareness of the value of wilderness and the value of the Scotchmans to our area.  Through printed materials, presentations, public meetings, a website and informational updates sent to supporters, we hope to bring about a public voice strong enough that Congress will act to designate this area as wilderness.
  6. How is wilderness created?
    The forest service may proposes an area for wilderness, but it takes an act of Congress to designate a wilderness.  The public must let their elected and appointed officials know that they want wilderness for this to happen.
  7. Are the donations tax deductible?
    Yes, all donations are tax deductible. We are a non-profit organizations operating under a 501(c)3 designation. A receipt will be provided.
  8. Isn’t there enough wilderness already in Idaho and Montana?
    In the Idaho Panhandle there is currently no designated wilderness and in Western Montana there’s only one small wilderness area, although there are vast areas of unprotected wild lands that are suitable for such designation in this region.  We are only asking for one small part to be set aside as wilderness, the Scotchmans.
  9. Aren’t there Grizzly Bears in the Scotchmans?
    Yes, the Scotchmans are home to grizzly bears as well as other threatened, endangered, and sensitive species such as: mountain goat, bull trout, Canadian lynx, wolf and wolverine.  It is also an important habitat for many other animals including deer, moose, elk, black bear, coyotes, bobcat and cougar.
  10. But, doesn’t wilderness ban hunting?
    No, wilderness designation does not affect the traditional uses of this area, hiking, hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, photography, berry picking – all these activities are allowed, and are preserved, by wilderness designation.
  11.  Doesn’t wilderness designation restrict my access?
    No, wilderness designation for the Scotchmans still allows everyone access on foot and on horseback.  The only activity not allowed in wilderness is the use of mechanized vehicles.  There are no roads or motorized trails suitable for OHV or mountain bike use in the Scotchmans. The terrain is so rugged as to make off-road travel by ATVs unfeasible, so this activity does not currently take place and would be unaffected by wilderness designation.  There is a small part of the Scotchmans that may be legally accessed by snowmobiles in the wintertime.  When the forest service wrote their master plans in the 1980s they did not envision that snowmobiles would become powerful enough to penetrate this backcountry so there are no specific provisions against this activity.  This activity would be restricted, however snowmobiles would still have access to the millions of other acres of forest service land in North Idaho in western Montana.
  12. But aren’t there roads in the Scotchmans that Wilderness designation would close?
    Wilderness designation would not close any roads.  Roads that are on the perimeter of the area or reach access points/trailheads would all remain open.  There are no roads in the Scotchmans that are in the current inventory of forest service roads.  There are some very old mining and logging roads that decades ago began to revert to nature and are now so eroded or overgrown with Alder and other brush that they are not usable and, in many places, are only barely recognizable.  The wilderness act allows for inclusion of such areas if they will continue to return an area to its natural state if left alone.
  13. But doesn’t Wilderness designation mean that the Forest Service can’t fight fires?
    No, Section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act allows firefighting in designated wilderness, stating that “such measures can be taken as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.” In 1978, in House Report 95-540 accompanying the Endangered American Wilderness Act (P.L. 95-237), Congress specified some of the permissible “measures:” “Fires, Insects, Disease – Section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act permits any measure necessary to control fire, insect outbreaks, and disease in wilderness areas.  This includes the use of mechanized equipment, the building of fire roads, fire towers, fire breaks or fire pre-suppression facilities where necessary and other techniques for fire control.  In short, anything necessary for the protection of public health or safety is permissible.”
  14. I don’t live in Idaho or Montana, why should I care about the Scotchmans?
    Land that is officially designated as Wilderness is public land that belong to all americans. Many of the visitors to the Scotchmans are from other states, people who come here to fish, hunt, camp, hike, and just appreciate and enjoy what nature offers us. We, and they, realize that without such protection, these lands may not be available for our children and grandchildren to also enjoy, which would be a loss for all of us.
  15. How can I find out more information on the Scotchmans?
    You can find more information about the Scotchmans by subscribing to our newsletter, reading our inserts or our brochure, or you can attend one of our presentations or come along on a hike, or by browsing this web site.
  16. How can I find out more information about Wilderness and the Wilderness Act?
    For more information on the Wilderness Act you can view or download a comprehensive “handbook” from The Wilderness Society at this webpage:

    http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Documents/WildernessActHandbook2004.cfm