Photo: NPS
Photo: NPS |
People Taking Care of Places
Speaker: Rick Bass
File size: 410k
Play AudioYaak Valley, Montana
"The future's so random, and so mobile, there's no way you're going
to get to your vision of what you want your community to be just
by chance alone. I really believe you have to let people know, to
use your voice, to say, 'this is what I like about my place, I want
to keep it this way, this is what I think can be improved, this
is what I disapprove of.' That's the only way you can have a part
in shaping the future." -
Rick Bass
Photo: NPS |
Rick Bass is a writer who lives with his family in northwestern
Montana's Yaak Valley. The valley has been described as a "Noah's
Ark of Diversity," with mountain lions, moose, elk, bobcats, grizzly
and black bears, lynx, and wolverines. Almost all of the Yaak Valley
is in the Kootenai National Forest. Rick works with his neighbors
on the Yaak Valley Forest Council to support a local and sustainable
forest-based economy, and to help protect the last roadless areas
in the public wildland in northwestern Montana. The Yaak Council
has been described by Rick as a mix of valley residents, including
"hunting and fishing guides, bartenders, massage therapists, road
builders/heavy construction operators, writers, seamstresses, painters,
construction workers, nurses, teachers, loggers, photographers,
electricians, and carpenters."
