<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Sen. Daines wants protection lifted from Wilderness Study Areas, ignoring that wilderness has proven itself as an economic asset.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It’s doubtful that Daines is unaware of the economic risk his wants could create. After all, it’s been plain as plain can be that the real estate industry has profited nicely as more and more Americans move into areas near national parks and wilderness areas. Real estate sales pitches commonly boast of proximity to natural amenities and wildlife associated with the nation’s most-protected lands.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Wilderness is an economic asset in more ways than one.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Its clear, measurable, widely-known economic value extends beyond real estate sales. Tourism is another commercial industry long benefited by wilderness, whether wilderness made by God and Nature, or Wilderness as protected by Congress and the President. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Daines’ bill fails to protect an asset important to the Montana economy, and reputation.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The authors and supporters of Daines’ bill no doubt think it will lead to economic good, but look the other way about harm.</div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br class=""><br class="">“A new area of study is the field that some of us are beginning to call social traps. <br class="">The term refers to situations in society that contain traps formally like a fish trap, <br class="">where men or whole societies get themselves started in some direction or some <br class="">set of relationships that later prove to be unpleasant or lethal and that they see <br class="">no easy way to back out of or to avoid."<br class=""><br class="">John Platt. Social Traps. American Psychologist, August 1973</div></div>
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