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If anyone needed evidence of the passion locals have for public lands, Thursday's meeting about the proposed Hidden Gems wilderness-expansion plan provided plenty.
More than 600 people, mostly locals, turned out for a meeting about the plan hosted by Rep. Jared Polis, who has been asked to sponsor a bill to create new wilderness in Eagle and Summit counties. A similar meeting earlier this week in Boulder, Colorado, drew about 200 people.
Outdoor Life magazine simply confirmed what Ken Schroeder already knew by naming Rapid City the nation's top town for hunters and anglers.
"That's why a lot of us live here," Schroeder said Wednesday in reaction to the city's No. 1 ranking by Outdoor Life in its June-July issue. "My story isn't unique. I was gone from South Dakota for 33 years, and all I could think about was getting back. Just about every important quality of life aspect you can think of, I find right here."
Listening sessions on how to better protect and preserve the great outdoors kicked off in the great outdoors Tuesday at the Rolling Stone Ranch near here, where top state and federal officials gathered to learn more about conservation efforts in Montana.
On the edges of a vast landscape that measures in the millions of acres and stretches north through a wilderness area and a scenic national park, ranchers and environmentalists have been able to agree on a lot lately.
The work done to preserve land in northwestern Montana's "Crown of the Continent" was made the shining example Tuesday of what the Obama Administration hopes to achieve with its new "America's Great Outdoors Initiative."
The list of projects to talk about was nearly as long as the line of dignitaries waiting to talk at Tuesday's Crown of the Continent celebration at the Rolling Stone Ranch.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is talking with voters about a divisive plan to designate about 380 square miles in northern Colorado as wilderness.
Polis is hosting community forums in Colorado to talk about the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal before introducing a bill in Congress.
The proposal would set aside more wilderness lands. But that would mean those lands would be off-limits for snowmobilers, ATVs and mining and logging.
The proposal has also raised concerns because the Army uses some of it for high-altitude pilot training.
Roy Jacobs was waiting for breakfast at the Outpost Deli when 30 years of fighting for the Rocky Mountain Front quietly paid off.
Another customer leaned over Jacobs' shoulder as he explained a plan for protecting the mountain range outside the café's window. "I'm glad to hear of all the work you do for the Front," he said. "Just wanted to say thanks."
No volcano ever vented from Volcano Reef.
No prehistoric coral reef every flourished here either. Standing on the edge of the Rocky Mountain Front, expectations fracture just as the Earth's crust did when it piled layers of billion-year-old Precambrian rock on top of Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks one-fifth that old.
Supporters of the proposed Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act - a bill that would designate approximately 86,000 acres of new wilderness and protect an additional 218,000 acres from most new road construction along the Rocky Mountain Front - say the measure is ready for congressional consideration.
However, critics of the proposal said the measure falls far short of adequately protecting what many people believe are some the nation's last best wildlands.
Basalt Fire District officials said Tuesday they support the designation of roughly "90 percent" of Basalt Mountain as wilderness and are negotiating with Wilderness Workshop over the remaining 10 percent.
John Young, a member of the fire district's board of directors, said the firefighters believe some of the remaining 10 percent could be designated wilderness after some fuels are removed. The fire district believes a smaller part of the 10 percent of the mountain is unacceptable as wilderness, he said.
