Working together is working for the communities of Seeley Lake and Ovando. These communities, connected by rivers, public lands, wildlife wilderness, and Montana’s rural lifestyle, are key to the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project.
The project advocates for timber and restoration, recreation, and conservation on public lands in the Blackfoot Clearwater watershed (http://www.blackfootclearwater.org/). Thanks to the project, forests in the area are being restored, putting workers in the woods and providing timber for Montana’s mills, including Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake.
The project has more to do, including designating the Otatsy recreation area for snowmobiling and designating additions to complete the Bob Marshall and Mission Mountains wildernesses. That task is now up to Montana’s congressional delegation, working together just as these communities have done.
Thanks to Montana’s Sen. Jon Tester for meeting recently with western Montana timber workers, ranchers, small business owners and conservationists to discuss potential legislation, a beginning to completion of this collaboration.
Bert Lindler
Missoula