Missoula: Wilderness Gateway

George Wuerthner

 

When I was in college at the University of Montana in Missoula, I had a housemate named Tom. Tom was a wilderness fanatic like myself. We both loved exploring the wildlands that surround Missoula.

Tom had a map on the wall where he drew a circle that encompassed a hundred-mile radius around Missoula.  Tom used to declare is that Missoula was the center of the universe when it came to wilderness. We both used to exclaim how fortunate we felt to live in a community with so much wild country so close. Missoula was, we proudly proclaimed, the “Wilderness Gateway.”

And indeed, if you do the same exercise, you will find that Tom was right. Within a hundred miles you can visit the River of No Return/Frank Church Wilderness, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Rattlesnake Wilderness, Welcome Creek Wilderness, Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, Mission Mountain Wilderness, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Cabinet Mountain Wilderness, Lincoln Scapegoat Wilderness and Great Bear Wilderness.

And this was just the congressionally designated wilderness. If you throw in the large roadless areas that are proposed for wilderness designation—something we deemed perfectly fair—the list grows substantially.

There is the Great Burn Proposed Wilderness, Sapphire Mountains/Stony Mountain Proposed Wilderness, Blue Joint Proposed Wilderness, Allan Mountain Proposed Wilderness, Quigg Peak Proposed Wilderness, Jewel Basin Proposed Wilderness, Scotchman’s Peak Proposed Wilderness, Nevada Mountain Proposed Wilderness, Flint Creek Mountains Proposed Wilderness, Electric Peak/Little Blackfoot Meadows Proposed Wilderness, the wildlands in Glacier National Park and so on.

Well, you get my point. In terms of a strategic location with proximity to wildlands, there is no large community anywhere in the West that is so favorably located as Missoula.

 With the growing evidence that many people and businesses are choosing to live near natural areas, and this is translating into economic opportunity, it’s amazing to me that Missoula fails to capitalize on its unique geographical location. The old mantra of the three most important factors is real estate – “location, location, location” – certainly applies to Missoula.

When I attended the University of Montana, Missoula’s moniker as the “Garden City” certainly applied due to its relatively mild climate compared to the rest of Montana. However, if you were to ask people why they are relocating in Missoula, most would not name gardening as their prime motivation.

 I would venture to guess that proximity to wildlands and the activities these lands supports, from prime hunting, fishing, camping, backpacking and backcountry skiing, would rise to the top.

Isn’t it time for Missoula to reconsider its trademark and branding? Shouldn’t Missoula call itself the “Wilderness Gateway”?

Of course, if such a logo were adopted, Missoula could enhance its reputation by supporting the designation as wilderness of the many large roadless areas that surround it. From Scotchman’s Peak to Great Burn to Blue Joint to Stony Mountain, the opportunities for new significant wilderness areas within a hundred miles of town is great.

Missoula: Wilderness Gateway. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

George Wuerthner has visited more than 400 designated wilderness areas, and published 38 books, including “Montana: Magnificient Wilderness.”

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  1. monty Avatar
    monty

    Agree w/your comments. Our vast public lands represent physical freedom and space and hope. My neighbor, The Willamette NF, is on three sides of where I live. The down side is that Oregon is now the number one state for in migration for the reasons you wrote about.

Author
gwuerthner@gmail.com | Website

George Wuerthner is an ecologist and writer who has published 38 books on various topics related to environmental and natural history. Among his titles are Welfare Ranching-The Subsidized Destruction of the American West, Wildfire-A Century of Failed Forest Policy, Energy—Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth, Keeping the Wild-Against the Domestication of the Earth, Protecting the Wild—Parks, and Wilderness as the Foundation for Conservation, Nevada Mountain Ranges, Alaska Mountain Ranges, California’s Wilderness Areas—Deserts, California Wilderness Areas—Coast and Mountains, Montana’s Magnificent Wilderness, Yellowstone—A Visitor’s Companion, Yellowstone and the Fires of Change, Yosemite—The Grace and the Grandeur, Mount Rainier—A Visitor’s Companion, Texas’s Big Bend Country, The Adirondacks-Forever Wild, Southern Appalachia Country, among others.
He has visited over 400 designated wilderness areas and over 200 national park units.
In the past, he has worked as a cadastral surveyor in Alaska, a river ranger on several wild and scenic rivers in Alaska, a backcountry ranger in the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska, a wilderness guide in Alaska, a natural history guide in Yellowstone National Park, a freelance writer and photographer, a high school science teacher, and more recently ecological projects director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology. He currently is the ED of Public Lands Media.
He has been on the board or science advisor of numerous environmental organizations, including RESTORE the North Woods, Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Association, Park Country Environmental Coalition, Wildlife Conservation Predator Defense, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Western Watersheds Project, Project Coyote, Rewilding Institute, The Wildlands Project, Patagonia Land Trust, The Ecological Citizen, Montana Wilderness Association, New National Parks Campaign, Montana Wild Bison Restoration Council, Friends of Douglas Fir National Monument, Sage Steppe Wild, and others.

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