Paul McKenzie, land resource manager for F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., said recommended wilderness areas can create an unnecessary barrier to future land management, but noted he has focused his energy on other aspects of the plan. He said he hopes the final forest plan revision will prioritize land designations that allow for more latitude in timber harvest and other management activities.

"When you start looking at adding some more fringes (to existing wilderness), that's where I get kind of nervous," McKenzie said. "If you have a wilderness boundary right next to a general-forest boundary, there's going to be a potential for folks to say, even in those general forest areas you shouldn't be managing that area, because it's right next to the wilderness boundary."

Noah Bodman is a board member of Flathead Fat Tires, a nonprofit that advocates for mountain biking in the region. While he said most of the group's members would consider themselves conservationists, they object to the designation being pushed by wilderness advocates for Bunker Creek that would prohibit all mechanized uses on trails connecting the popular ridge trail to the Hungry Horse Reservoir area.