- Location
- Montana/Idaho
- Current protection
- Cabinet Mountains Wilderness (Kootenai National Forest)
- Status
- No active campaign
- Tier
- Tier 2 · National Monument
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
The Cabinet Mountains rise out of the rain forests of northwest Montana, granite peaks and dozens of alpine lakes above groves of cedar and hemlock. Grizzly bears still range here, in one of the smallest and most fragile populations in the lower 48.
Montana's senator wanted it as a National Park in 1916. It became one of the first wilderness areas instead, which kept it wild. It still deserves the recognition.
The history of National Park Campaigns
Identical bills for a 62,380-acre Cabinet National Park in Lincoln County were introduced in 1916 by Sen. Henry L. Myers and Rep. John M. Evans, and the idea came up again in 1933. Neither passed. The core of the range became the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in 1964, one of the original units of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 2 (1916 bills; 1933)
- Other designation attempts
- 1 (1964 wilderness)
Sources
- National Park Service, Suggested Areas Resumes (1957)
- Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
- 1916
Sen. Henry L. Myers and Rep. John M. Evans introduce identical bills for a 62,380-acre Cabinet National Park.
- 1933
The park idea is raised again.
- September 3, 1964
The Wilderness Act makes it the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.