Rising to the west of the fabled Big Hole River Valley, the snow- drenched Beaverhead Mountains reach nearly 11,000 feet, towering above a series of rugged glacial cirques and U-shaped canyons. The mountains, and the broad wind-swept valley to the east, represent the rugged grandeur and isolation of Montana's past. Development is rapidly changing many parts of western Montana, but the West Big Hole is one place where the spirit, legacy, and character of the state survives.
The Shoshone tribe experienced the West Big Hole country for millennia as part of its summer range territory. For decades after Lewis and Clark led their Corps of Discovery across the valley and through the mountains on the trip to the Pacific, it remained unsettled-except, of course, for the abundant elk, bison, sheep, goats, and grizzly bear. Some wildlife populations have dwindled or disappeared, but the beauty of Big Hole country is that there are places left to preserve before they are discovered by developers and off-road vehicle enthusiasts.
The West Big Hole country has been recommended for wilderness designation by the Forest Service since 1979 and has been included in nearly every wilderness bill proposal. However, legislation to protect West Big Hole has never made it over the finish line to be signed into law by the president. In the intervening years, motorized recreation, especially snowmobiling, has made its way into the high, elevated basins of West Big Hole, forever impacting the character of this special place. In recent years, the popularity of increasingly powerful new snowmobiles have encroached upon the highest elevations of the West Big Hole , contrary to a Forest Plan prescription for recommended wilderness.
It is unfortunate that these incursions were ever allowed. The unwarranted off-road traffic threatens mountain goat and wolverine populations, as well as some of the unique wilderness values associated with the West Big Hole. Yet, the wildness of the West Big Hole endures.
It remains excellent elk habitat, providing secure calving areas, and summer and fall ranges. Important lower-elevation winter range is located in Idaho on the western side of the Beaverhead Mountains. Moose, black bear, wolverine and mountain goat are all, still today, common residents of the area.
More than a dozen willow-lined streams, loaded with trophy-sized trout, cut through the West Big Hole. The water from these healthy tributary streams is the lifeblood of the Big Hole River, providing essential late-season flows that maintain irrigation and blue-ribbon fisheries downstream.
After decades of fits and starts, we now have a real opportunity to protect the West Big Hole forever. Wilderness designation for the area is part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership Strategy. This innovative partnership seeks to break the decades-long gridlock over wilderness legislation in Montana. If adopted, more than 573,000 acres of new wilderness would be designated. And most importantly, this proposal would guarantee the towering Continental Divide peaks of West Big Hole would stay forever wild.
