Letters to the editor Aug. 23

Good hiking

I just completed a backpacking trip in Glacier National Park that included hiking about 17 miles of the Park Creek Trail. The amount of blowdown on this heavily forested trail from this winter’s storms was mind-boggling. Patches of trees, some over an acre in size, had been blown over by the roots or snapped off.

The work done by the Park Service crews to get this trail open for use was amazing. Hundreds and hundreds of fallen trees had been cleared from the entire 17-mile length of the trail from Essex to Upper Park.

Many of these trees were 30 inches in diameter or more and had been sawn and bucked out to make the trail passable. Each 3- to 4-foot chunk of these big trees that had been bucked and rolled off the trail weighed three hundred pounds or more.

The remains of jackstrawed heaps of trees that must have covered the trail eight to ten feet deep were in evidence up and down the trail. In many instances the trail had been obliterated when root wads from trees had pulled out, taking the hillside and tread with them. In every instance, the trail crews had restored a wide, level tread.

So, to the hard-working trail crews, thank you for epic work on this and many other trails this season. The level of blowdown in the woods this year is nearly unprecedented in recent memory. In the tight budget years the natural resource agencies are facing, it was gratifying to see that important work is still taking place.

So, again, thank you to the Park Service and all the other agency and volunteer trail crews for all the energy and sweat you are putting in to keep our forest trails open.

— Steve Brady, Kalispell

Invested in our community

I recently spent the Cherry Festival weekend volunteering at the Lake County Democrats booth alongside Dalton Bradford, candidate for Montana House District 13. Observing Dalton’s character and interactions with voters made one thing clear: he is exactly the leader our community needs.

From Friday setup to Sunday pack-up, Dalton jumped right in to do the heavy lifting. On Sunday morning, he was at the booth bright and early, having already been up since 4:30 a.m. helping his grandfather on the farm. That level of dedication, hard work, and family value speaks for itself.

Throughout the festival, a steady stream of attendees stopped to visit with Dalton. He reconnected with former classmates, teachers and neighbors from Polson, while engaging new voters in thoughtful discussions. They talked about property taxes, rising costs for farmers and small businesses, rural healthcare and local schools. Most importantly, Dalton listened.

Voters want a representative who listens before making decisions, collaborates across party lines and meets with everyone — not just a select few. Dalton Bradford is proactive, respectful and genuinely invested in our community. We need more people like him representing us in Helena. Vote for Dalton Bradford – HD 13

— Suz Rittenhouse, Polson

A divided field

I grew up hunting and fishing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and I've called Montana home since I came here for college. I'm an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, and my family carries five generations of farming and ranching — a legacy built on being responsible stewards of the land.

Today I work as a water quality scientist, doing everything I can to protect the clean water our communities and our way of life depend on.

None of that makes me a straight-ticket voter. I hold conservative views on plenty of fiscal questions and lean more progressive on several social issues. But when it comes to choosing who represents Montana in the U.S. Senate, I vote for the candidate who will fight hardest for our landscape, our water, and the people who rely on both. That candidate is Seth Bodnar.

Public lands access, healthy rivers, and working farms and ranches are not partisan issues in Montana — they're the foundation of who we are. Seth understands that defending them takes more than talking points; it takes a real commitment to the people who hunt, fish, farm, and depend on clean water here every day.

Montana can't afford a divided field that hands this seat away by accident. That's why as someone who cares about public lands and clean water, I respectfully ask Democrat Alani Bankhead to drop out of the race.

I'm also asking my fellow Montanans, whatever their party, to unite behind Seth Bodnar — the candidate who can win and who will put our land, our water, and our people first.

— Russell Conti, Bozeman