English: Rick Bass is a writer who lives with his family in northwestern Montana's Yaak Valley. The valley has been described as a "Noah's Ark of Diversity," with mountain lions, moose, elk, bobcats, grizzly and black bears, lynx and wolverines. Almost all of the Yaak Valley is in the Kootenai National Forest. Rick works with his neighbors on the Yaak Valley Forest Council to support a local and sustainable forest-based economy, and to help protect the last roadless areas on the public wildland in northwestern Montana. NPS Photo.