“Old Wounds Won’t Heal Without New Ideas”, Ravalli Republic

Several nights ago I attended the travel plan meeting in Darby. There was a huge turnout estimated at more than 170 people. It was quite clear many of the citizens were angry, upset and frustrated. Two reasons: angry because the majority felt strongly that forest access was being compromised and frustrated because they feel the government (aka the Forest Service) doesn’t listen and that citizens aren’t being heard. Now I don’t pretend to know all the answers to these issues. Heck, I don’t even know all the questions. But one thing I do feel strongly about is that business-as-usual politics is not going to solve the problem and as long as we keep yelling at each other this thing isn’t going to get fixed.

The question now becomes: Is it possible for the Forest Service to become our partner and not our adversary? Is it possible for policy that starts in Washington D.C. to reflect the will of the people on a local level? Is it possible to hand-craft solutions instead of a one size fits all policy?Is this possible? Yes! Is it easy? No. But it can be done.