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 Removing the Pippen cabin stove. Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, MT. |
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A Victory for Wilderness – Crippen cabin to be removed from Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness! |
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| Note: The Crippen cabin and Pippen cabin are slated for removal by July 2004 (see photo at left). The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Montana will become a little more wild thanks to the efforts of Wilderness advocates. By July 2004, the Forest Service will burn and remove the controversial structure known as the Crippen cabin using non-mechanized means. As we reported in our March 2002 newsletter, the Crippen cabin was donated in 1999 to Montana State University – Billings (MSU-B) by former state Senator Bruce Crippen. The transfer of ownership was controversial, as Crippen’s Special Use permit with the Forest Service had expired the same year. After the area’s designation as Wilderness in 1978, the Forest Service found that the existence of the cabin did not conform to Wilderness values and should therefore be removed. Though they extended Crippen’s permit twice, in 1999 Crippen became responsible for the cost of removing the cabin. The change of ownership required congressional approval, which was gained when Sen. Conrad Burns attached language as a rider to a larger, unrelated appropriations bill. MSU-B
gained a lease for the cabin in 2001. It then became the job of
University Chancellor Ron Sexton to apply for a Special Use permit
from the Forest Service – a permit that Congress had already
directed the agency to approve for a 20-year duration. Almost
immediately the University began to feel pressure from concerned
citizens. Conservation organizations like Wilderness Watch and the
Eastern Wildlands Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association,
along with students and other Wilderness advocates, believed the
special deal compromised the integrity of both the Wilderness Act
and the University. Letters poured in, and in April the University
Academic Senate unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to
the University’s involvement with the cabin. The
good news came in May, when Chancellor Sexton announced that the
University would not pursue a Special Use permit from the Forest
Service. In an interview, Sexton stated that his decision was made
"for a variety of reasons" and that faculty and student
support for using the cabin "no longer exists." The University
will pay to dismantle the cabin, and is now working with the Forest
Service to find a means of removal consistent with the cabin’s
unique location. Wilderness Watch applauds MSU-B’s decision
and thanks all of our members for the letters they sent to Chancellor
Sexton. Wilderness
Watch encourages our members to thank the University for supporting
the removal of Crippen cabin. Please send your letter to the following
address: Dr.
Ronald P. Sexton, Chancellor |
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