George Wuerthner and Michael Kellett
The Cabinet-Yaak region of northwest Montana along the Idaho border is little known outside of the region. The area contains the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness, plus numerous proposed wilderness areas like Scotchman’s Peak, Cube Iron Silcox, Rodick Mountain, and Northwest Peaks, among others.
The Cabinet Mountains are quite spectacular. Elevations range from a low of 2,880 feet to 8,738 feet atop Snowshoe Peak, nearly as much elevation gain as the Tetons above the Jackson Hole Valley. There remains one glacier on Snowshoe Peak.
Designated a Primitive Area in 1935, the 94,272-acre area then became part of the National Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964.
Several major rivers flow through the region, including the Clark Fork, Bull, Yaak and Kootenai.
This is the “inland rainforest” of the state. Here, you will see species that are much more common on the West Coast, like western hemlock, western white pine, western red cedar, and other tree species. Other trees with a limited distribution like subalpine larch grace the highest summits.
The abundance of precipitation, much of it coming as snow in the winter months, sustains carbon-rich forests with some of the largest trees in Montana. One example is the Ross Creek Cedar grove of ancient western red cedar.
The area is rich in lichens. The presence of some, such as peppered moon lichen (Stricta fulginosa) and netted specklebelly (Pseudocyphellaria anomala), defines the limits of the inland rainforest.
The abundance of hair lichens once supported mountain caribou. However, industrial logging led to the loss of the caribou’s favorite habitat rich in lichens, and the last sighting of caribou occurred in 2018. Other unique or rare species that occupy the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem include grizzly bear, wolf, wolverine, bull trout, lynx, white sturgeon, and redside rainbow trout. Although rainbow trout has been widely stocked across Montana, the Kootenai River drainage is only natural range for rainbow trout in Montana.
The Cabinet-Yaak region is one of the more remote parts of Montana. The majority of the land is under federal administration as part of the Kootenai National Forest. Libby Montana, with little more than 3,000 residents, is the population center. The Yaak Valley, in particular, is lightly settled and has been the subject of numerous books by former Yaak resident Rick Bass.
Like many rural communities, Libby has suffered significant economic setbacks in recent years. The timber industry declined with the shuttering of the Champion International and Louisiana Pacific mills in the 1990s. Pollution from nearby mines that produced vermiculite which was contaminated with asbestos led to the town’s inclusion in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List.
Compounding these challenges, the Kootenai National Forest continues to promote large-scale timber cutting in the region. This is harming the Inland Forest ecosystem, with significant negative impacts on many wildlife species.
One of the more recent and controversial timber sales is the proposed Black Ram project. A federal judge halted the project in response to legal challenges, but it is likely to be modified and put back on the table for future logging. Among the impacts of this massive proposal would be the creation of a hundred miles of new roads that would reduce critical security habitat for grizzly bears.
Dr. Dominick DellaSala, a leading authority on old-growth forests, conducted a field visit to the Black Ram logging project area. He says, “I can say unequivocally that this site is old growth, is critically important to its surroundings, has key climate and refugia properties, including the potential for large amounts of above and below ground carbon to continue to accumulate over centuries.” Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service “claims [Black Ram] is for climate resilience, while my observations show it would have the opposite effect.”
To add insult to injury, the proposed Black Ram timber sale would lose $3.2 million dollars, because the cost to plan and administer the project would be much greater than the meager revenue from selling the timber. As a result, taxpayers would be forced to subsidize the destruction of this ecologically important forest.
There is significant public opposition to the Black Ram project. The Friends of Scotchman’s Peak and Yaak Valley Forest Council are among the groups working to protect the Cabinet Yaak ecosystem and have done a tremendous job of promoting the area’s wildlands.
Unfortunately, some conservation groups, including Yellowstone to Yukon, Wild Montana, Montana Wildlife Federation, and The Wilderness Society, support the Black Ram logging project, as does the Kootenai tribe. They accept the scientifically questionable claims by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) that this logging will “restore” forest health and reduce fire risk.
The Black Ram is only one of many logging proposals for the Kootenai National Forest that jeopardize wildlife and ecosystem integrity, not to mention the loss of carbon and climate moderation.
So, what is a potential solution? One means of providing greater protection to the region’s incredible wildlands and wildlife is the Alliance for Wild Rockies Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act {NREPA). This bill would protect all the region’s wildlands and call for wilderness restoration for many previously logged forests. Although NREPA is by far the best and most comprehensive means of preserving wildlands of the Northern Rockies, and has been introduced into Congress numerous times, this bold and visionary legislation has yet to be signed into law.
Another option could be the creation of a Cabinet-Yaak National Park with a wilderness overlay on all the roadless lands included in NREPA. The National Park Service (NPS) prioritizes the preservation of ecological processes and native biodiversity, rather than the intensive resource management which is the focus of the USFS. As a result, commercial logging and other resource extraction is not allowed in national parks. Moreover, national park designation provides stronger protection for wildlife than is provided by USFS management. For instance, the NPS prohibits trapping and hunting of predators such as wolves, lynxes, and wolverines.
Some people are concerned that the creation of a national park would result in the area being overdeveloped and “loved to death.” However, it is critical to point out that some national parks receive less visitation than many designated wilderness areas. For example, North Cascades National Park in Washington, received only 40,000 visitors in 2023. Protecting wildlife from human impacts is critical, and there are ways to protect sensitive wildlife through management of human recreational use. The NPS has is far better at this than the USFS.
There is little question that a national park in Northwest Montana would be an economic asset to the economically depressed Libby economy. There is ample research showing that national parks diversify and strengthen local economies. But more important, a new park would provide a way to preserve one of the nation’s wildest landscapes.
The New National Parks Campaign (a project of RESTORE: The North Woods) is currently the only voice calling for a Cabinet-Yaak National Park. However, such a proposal may gain greater support if the USFS continues to ignore public concern and continue is intensive logging agenda. Perhaps it is time to think outside of the box and take bold action for the long-term preservation of the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem by creating a new national park.
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