No ATVs, Please

New Website Celebrates Montana’s Swan Range, Encourages Keeping it Wild

By Kate Downen, 4-13-06

We love them, we hike them. We bike them and camp in them. And they’ve always been there. But it’s time to stop taking our forests and natural playgrounds for granted. We need to keep them wild, sacred and motor-free. These were the ideas behind creation of the new website about Northwest Montana’s Swan Mountain Range, Swanrange.org.

I asked Ben Long, one of the website’s co-creators, whose brainchild the website was. “It was much more organic than that,” he told me. Look a little closer at the site and you’ll see what he means. The site, it turns out, was the result of a lot of collaboration between people who love the same wilderness. A page titled “People of the Swan” has pictures and testimonials from artists, business people, hikers and your basic outdoor-loving Montanans. Hell, even Miss Montana USA loves the Swan.

Bigfork Eagle cartoonist Elmer Sprunger and his son Jerry have spent years exploring the Swan. “There's so much to enjoy in the Swan Range and the best way to see it is on your own two feet.” Jerry says. Adds Elmer: “You can take all sorts of medicines for stress. But nothing beats hiking or riding a horse into the Swan Range to relieve stress and worries of the world.”

Swan Range-lover Loren Kreck is a little more point-blank with his opinions on keeping motorized vehicles out of the Swan.
"The Forest Service is not paying attention to Forest Service history and the reasons the National Forests were created in the first place. Motorcycles don't love wild country. People do. The Forest Service needs to provide more protection for wildlife habitat in the northern Swan Range - not less."

Don Scharfe, owner of Rocky Mountain Outfitters in Kalispell, says, “Our family has spent the last 35 years hiking, skiing & hunting in the Swan Range. When our son Kyle was four, he started hiking, skiing and winter camping with us, often times in Jewel Basin. Whether we have a half a day or several days – we know we can get away quickly from town and have a wonderful, peaceful experience.”

I call that true, faithful love.

I also couldn’t agree more with these people. The Swan is an incredible place, and spending time there is an instant bad day fix, an instant head clearer. Last fall, in the midst of rough patch in our relationship, my boyfriend took me on an afternoon hike date in the Swan. When we got to Inspiration Point he decided that we should take a different trail down—for fun. Suddenly it was after 10:00, we couldn’t see our own feet and we were lost (or I thought so and he thought maybe so, but wouldn’t admit it). I was a little bit mad, a little scared (we didn’t have warm enough clothes for a night in the mountains), he was trying to be nice but may have been a little worried, and then, voila-- we somehow made it down. We cranked up the heat in the car and laughed like bank robbers who'd barely gotten away.

We’re still together. It’s probably not because of the Swan. But maybe, just maybe, it's partly because of the Swan. That was a good day. It wouldn’t have been the same with ATVs zooming by. The Swan wouldn’t be the same either.

But enough of the Chicken Soup for the Soul already. Swanrange.org is also a great resource for anyone who wants to explore new territory. It features a 70-mile ‘virtual hike’ of the Swan, information about hiking routes, destinations and fish-stocking schedules. There’s also information about the Swan Rangers Hiking Club, an informal, unguided group that meets Saturdays at Echo Lake Café near Bigfork and takes off into the mountains together for whatever seasonal joys await. This isn’t elitism. This isn’t people trying to keep something all to themselves. It’s the recognition of something beautiful and special, and an attempt to keep it that way.

The most important part of swanrange.org is the page where we outdoor-lovers can contact the Flathead National Forest and tell them how we feel about the Swan. It’s especially important right now, as the National Forest rewrites the Flathead National Forest plan.

As swanrange.org’s Ben Long told me, “People love the Swan the way it is.” It’s ours for using and loving. Let’s keep it wild.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.