Sheena Pate: The Rivers That Launched the Wild and Scenic Act
The Three Forks of the Flathead River in northwest Montana didn't just earn Wild and Scenic designation — they inspired the law that made it possible. In the 1950s, a proposed dam at Spruce Park would have dewatered the Middle Fork entirely, routing its flow through a mountain tunnel into Hungry Horse Reservoir. Wildlife biologists John and Frank Craighead floated the river to document what would be lost, and their fight against the dam seeded the movement that became the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The three forks themselves weren't formally designated until 1976 — 50 years…
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