Before it’s too Late

by Travis Cole

Sometime in the future you won’t be so busy. There won’t be 5 million things happening at once and you’ll be able to breathe and plan a day trip from town.

Someplace with water and uncrowded vistas. A place that everyone is welcome because it belongs to all of us.

You may want to take your kids someplace they can learn to swim without lots of traffic in the water. Or show friends a waterfall of amazing beauty, a place that if you’re lucky you might find a few minutes between just you and nature.

You’ll want to pull into a simple parking lot without a fee.

If you could walk along a pristine shoreline and maybe hear an endangered loon you’d be one of the lucky few. One of the lucky few who own land that was stewarded by great thinkers. People with vision enough to see something irreplaceable and set it aside for us all.

They preserved this incredible place for man and beast alike, so that we may enter the forest to cleanse our souls and invigorate our spirits. So we could always have pride in something we all shared, a common gift and responsibility.

Today this place exists for all of us. It’s Holland Lake. A lake fully owned by all of us citizens and managed by the forest service to serve the best interest of the public. A place set aside for all. A place of pure beauty and unspoiled natural wonder. A place that anyone seeking the solace of nature can find it in droves. A place that takes us to a calm, ancient spot inside our souls. A place we can connect with eachother and nature.

This place could be gone before you even have the chance to know it existed. Before you even knew what you were losing it could be gone forever. Cut down, paved over and forever disturbed before you even got to see what your elders left behind for you. The chain of stewardship could be broken before you get to add your link, before you have the gift and responsibility of this beautiful place it could disappear.

We have so few places like this left; why would we ever jeopardize even one? Why burn one of these last treasures for something so trivial as a few men’s fortunes. For a few individuals to get rich we will be sacrificing the richness of this land forever. It will never be the same and neither will you for the loss of this opportunity that could have changed your life. A chance to see sights of unparalleled beauty in a simple unhassled way, our way.

We owe our children the chance to take their children to a place like this. We cannot be the people that allow this amazing place to slip away. Not on our watch!

We could stop the development that is slated to destroy this unique place. We as the land owners have the right to determine the future of our wild places. Haven’t we been pushed out of enough places? Priced off enough ski hills? Permitted and permission slipped out of enough national parks?

We’ve seen too many times officials unwilling to apply the same standards to corporations as they do the general public. We all know it’s unjust; deep inside even they do. That’s why they didn’t give us time to comment until we raised a storm. That’s why we were given 20 days to comment on a massive proposal that was in the works for over 6 months or longer. Where I’m from if you’re proud of something and you believe it’s righteous you tell anyone and everyone about it.

That was not done in this case, although it would have been very easy to inform us earlier. This leads me to believe that even the people proposing this massive change don’t believe it to be in the best interest of the public.

The simple fact is that it is not in the good of the public at large. Thousands of people- six times over- have commented negatively about this proposal, and it’s my guess that if you knew what was happening you’d disapprove heartily as well. Locals, conservationists, former and current forest service and blm employees, and people from all over this great land have added their voices to the growing howl that precedes the storm that’s coming.

The people of Montana don’t want this resort, we want our lake and to be left alone. Come enjoy whats here, heal your soul the same way we have for generations in the enveloping solitude of the wilderness, but please leave it as you found it. Leave the hustle bustle consumer driven opportunities where they belong, near population centers.

Everything POWDR would like to offer is already available to wealthy travelers nearby in Whitefish, Kalispell and Missoula. Those areas have been centers of industry and population for generations. They’re already spoiled if you ask most of us. That’s why we escape to Holland Lake, not for more of what we find in our cities but for the experience of unspoiled nature that has become so rare in the world we have created around us. We can choose to let this place alone, to leave few traces of our presence, so the coming generations have the same opportunities we’ve had.

To develop this land takes it from our children, ourselves and future generations forever. We cannot do that to them. They deserve the best of our thoughtful consideration and every bit of scientific expertise that can be brought to bear in this decision of enormous potential. The people of this nation insist that the forest service and people in its employment live up to their mission as stated below.

The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.

It’s clear by the voicing of loud concerns from present and future generations of Americans that this project does not embody the stated mission of the forest service. The health, diversity, and productivity of this nation’s forest will be forever negatively affected by this project. The lake will not be able to meet the needs of the every man and women of this nation if it does not remain totally public and uncomplicated as it is now. Maintain what is there and live up to the obligations of every citizen, especially those managing public resources. Before it’s too late.

Travis Cole

Missoula Montana

Photo by Steve Slocomb

Submit your public comment by this Friday 10/7 at https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public//CommentInput...