Last April, Scott Snelson was quietly transferred from his post at the Spotted Bear District to a desk job at the Flathead National Forest headquarters at the behest of then Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele. Snelson finished his career as a staff officer of recreation, engineering, heritage and land. He retired a few weeks ago.

Snelson had a long career with the Forest Service before being named district ranger in 2017, 

He expected to spend his final years of his career managing one of the most coveted ranger districts in the U.S. The Spotted Bear is more than 1 million acres, with 850,000 of those acres part of the 1.6 million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

But instead of being a dream job, it became increasingly difficult under Steele’s leadership, Snelson told the Hungry Horse News in an interview last week.

That’s an excerpt from a piece written by Chris Peterson, editor of the Hungry Horse News, and he’s with me today to discuss his reporting.