Addressing questions and concerns about forest management reform during a statewide conference call Feb. 3, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, called for all 10 of the state’s national forests to furnish more jobs, greater economic opportunities in rural Montana and long-term, sustainable timber harvests.
Daines, Montana’s freshman Republican senator, opened the call by introducing figures showing that the amount of harvested board feet of timber on the state’s national forests had shrunk in the past 27 years, from 624 million board-feet in 1987 to 113 million board-feet in 2014.
“We need to find a path forward to create economic opportunities in rural forest counties, one that supports access for sportsmen and multiple use,” he said.
Despite those figures, environmental groups have pushed back against critics of the log supply by pointing at the latest figures from the U.S. Forest Service, which show the region met its harvest goal for fiscal year 2014. Roughly 280 million board feet of timber was harvested from Oct. 1, 2013 through Sept. 30, 2014 in Region One, which encompasses Montana, North Dakota, Northern Idaho and Northwestern South Dakota.
On the Flathead National Forest, the amount of harvested board feet has fallen through the decades as persistent litigation brought scrutiny to the quota, citing dangers to grizzly bears and their habitat.
Daines said timber policy should strike a balance between natural resource protection and extraction, but that litigation has stymied the timber industry, which will thrive again only through significant policy.
He voiced support for a measure that would change the way U.S. Forest Service timber projects are challenged in court by requiring those who sue the agency to post a bond covering the government’s cost if they lose, or limiting what they can recover in legal fees through the Equal Access to Justice Act.
But rather than push his agenda, which includes drafting legislative reforms to “restore active management of national forests and address the systemic challenges facing federally managed forests,” Daines asked listeners to voice their perspectives and ideas for policy reform.
“It is imperative that forest reform legislation improve conditions in all 10 of Montana’s national forests, create good-paying jobs in our timber industry, improve recreational access, and fulfill the federal government’s century-old promise to our forested counties to provide sustainable revenues for their schools and roads,” Daines said.
On whether he supports efforts to transfer federal land to state control, Daines said land-use decisions should be governed by greater state authority, though he questioned whether it was financially feasible to transfer federal land deeds to the state of Montana.
Responding to a question about Democratic Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, which mandates timber harvest and fuels treatments over 15 years on three national forests while safeguarding public land and wildlife habitat, Daines said the measure is not far-reaching enough, as it only effects three national forests – the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Lolo and Kootenai forests.
As an incoming member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Daines will have a greater degree of influence on legislative reforms this session, and has been a vocal advocate of revitalizing Montana’s struggling timber industry and fulfilling the federal government’s commitment to providing forest counties with revenue for schools, infrastructure and local services.
Last session, as a freshman in the U.S. House of Representatives, he supported the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which he introduced alongside Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington. The House Bill would have mandated a national level of trees cut per year. While the bill passed with bipartisan support by the full House, the Senate failed to bring the legislation forward for consideration.