Page 29 - Flathead Beacon // 5.25.16

UNCOMMON GROUND MIKE JOPEK EVERYONE EATS
GUEST COLUMN PAUL R. MCKENZIE
THE TREES ARE TGROWING EVERY DAY
O BORROW THE WORDS OF A Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coali- good friend, our National Forests tion has worked hard to help the Koo- are like a big sandbox and we all tenai National Forest and surround-
THE FARMERS MARKET SEASON in Columbia Falls and Kalispell has begun. White sh opens the last Tuesday of this month and Bigfork starts the rst Saturday in June. West Glacier’s market begins the last Friday of June.
White sh and Columbia Falls quickly noticed that downtown markets bring people downtown where shoppers rou- tinely visit other merchants like brewer- ies or pizzerias. Downtown markets serve as big promotional opportunities.
Having participated in hundreds of markets across the valley, it’s great to see a new generation of farmers and eaters gaining better access to local foods and marketplaces.
The downtown White sh market has been around for a while. Before the cur- rent downtown venue, the original mar- ket moved from place to place along the highway corridors or Kay Beller Park.
Farm Hands – Nourish the Flathead again run the SNAP booth at White sh and Columbia Falls markets where food- stamp recipients can shop local foods and gain access to double money.
Farm Hands says that through its Dou- ble SNAP program it will match up to $10 at either market so consumers have more access to local fruits, vegetables and meats.
The organization distributed a red $5 market-coin to 675 kindergarten through fourth grade students in Muldown Ele- mentary School to redeem for fruits, veg- etables or plants at the White sh market. That’s over $3,000 that Farm Hands put into local food encouragement for young eaters.
Farm Hands is continuing its Black- feet-Nourish project making bi-weekly food runs to the Browning Food Bank. The every-other-Friday deliveries are averaging a half-ton of food. The demand is great and there’s more room in the van.
To help out, get informed, or get listed on the ever expanding map of Flathead farms and community gardens, visit Farm Hands website at http://www. nourishthe athead.org.
Nearly every farmer in the valley will
tell you about the foods we grow for mar- ket. Most farms o er access to visit the farm, if you ask. From cheese to cherries, the Flathead produces some great foods.
Our Friday on-farm produce stand is open for the season. It’s a season that has all the promise of a best year yet. Some gentle rain and not too much heat or cold would help the veggies, berries and fruits.
need to gure out how to play together in it.
Finding a balance between protecting the ecological functions of our forests and the ever growing demands placed on them by a burgeoning human population requires hard work and hard decisions. That is the di cult role of the conser- vationist. That is the challenging work that local collaboratives in Montana and many other states are not shying away from.
ing communities build a better future. The group includes the timber indus- try, conservation and wilderness advo- cates, snowmobilers and local elected o cials, among others. The Montana Wilderness Association and other con- servation groups are involved in both of these local e orts. In these collaborative groups, I am supportive of more wilder- ness where wilderness makes sense and that realization does not preclude work- ing towards goals of more active man- agement where that tool is appropriate.
The Kootenai Stakeholders can point to many projects that through its involvement ended up having more recreational opportunities, more resil- ient wildlife habitat, more watershed restoration and more timber produced than in the original proposals developed solely by the agency.
Some are good at throwing rocks and disagreeing. Doing nothing may be easy and in some minds the “safe” option, but it is not improving our forests or communities. Forest collaboratives are focusing on the future. They are tackling the challenges of how can we provide ber to meet the needs of society while generating jobs in the community, pro- tect wilderness, wildlife habitat, recre- ational opportunities and clean water. It’s not an either/or world out there.
The trees are growing every day and so is our population. That makes the challenge of the conservationist all the more di cult and more critical. Let’s work together as neighbors in order to address the complex challenges and try to put the personal attacks, frustration and stereotypes aside. We encourage the Montana delegation to take notice of these cooperative solutions for pub- lic lands management and follow the example of working together towards common goals.
“THE FARMING SEASON IS HERE, I HOPE YOU GET OUT THERE AND ENJOY THE BEST THE FLATHEAD HAS TO OFFER.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
“FINDING A BALANCE BETWEEN PROTECTING THE ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF OUR FORESTS AND THE EVER GROWING DEMANDS PLACED
Paul R. McKenzie is the lands and resource manager at F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. in Columbia Falls
The Flathead is full of new growers
and young aspiring food entrepreneurs
adding value to fresh produce, meats,
berries and fruit. Given how Gov. Steve
Bullock and the last Montana Legisla-
ture enacted the Cottage Food law, I’d
expect new non-perishable foods like
bread, mu ns, jams, and spice mixes at of the land that is the problem, but rather
this year’s markets.
Both the U.S. and Montana Depart-
the quagmire of con icting bureaucratic processes we have established over the last 100 years that is to blame for the condition of benign neglect we see on so many of our public lands today. The pro-
ment of Agricultures recently updated
their farmers market directories across
the state and nation. In the last decade,
thousands of new markets started cess problem likely has no local solution.
nationwide.
More people want to know their
farmer and where on our large planet the food we feed our family was grown. Even though Congress recently removed much food transparency when repealing meat-labeling laws, people want to know. Asking your farmer helps answer many questions.
After decades working local markets, its great to see the value locals are putting onto fresh food. From the backyard gar- dens around town to more farmers and markets sprouting up valley wide, expect more local hands in the soil growing food.
As humans, food matters. Our area has over a dozen farmers markets. Most are quite festive environments where a fam- ily can gain access to fresh foods, plants, community, and ready-made eats at some great food trucks.
We are fortunate to live in the Flat- head; a community where people are friendly, public water is abundant and mostly clean, and open access to public lands somehow keeps pace with growth.
The farming season is here, I hope you get out there and enjoy the best the Flat- head has to o er.
However, I choose to work locally on solutions that get good work done on the ground. I’m involved in two northwest Montana partnerships, the White sh Range Partnership and the Kootenai Forest Stakeholder Coalition. In both of those groups, I work with folks from di erent backgrounds and with vary- ing interests. We work through the pub- lic process in a way that is solution ori- entated rather than divisive. We rarely share all the same perspectives, but we do share mutual respect. When we look past the old paradigms, we nd plenty of common ground.
It is important to remember that the work done by these collaboratives does not replace the public process, but serves to enhance it. When the critics of collaboration choose to stray from fac- tual and productive criticism and fall to the level of name-calling, making state- ments of untruths and false accusations, they marginalize their usefulness in the dialogue.
In Lincoln County, for example, the
I truly believe it is not the ownership
ON THEM BY A BURGEONING HUMAN POPULATION REQUIRES HARD WORK.”
MAY 25, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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