Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 8.24.16

COURT BEAT 15 Newsworthy
Following Columbia Falls Closures, Eight Mills Remain in Montana Governor announces initiative focused on improving forest management
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
SEELEY LAKE — Days before the nal logs rolled through the Weyerhaeuser Company’s plywood plant and lumber mill in Columbia Falls, the pending clo- sure cast a pall over the stacks of freshly cut pine and r at Pyramid Lumber.
Family owned and operated since 1949 with a sta of 150, the largest employer in Seeley Lake is now one of eight remain- ing mills in a state historically tied to the timber trade.
“It’s like a death in the family when you lose another mill,” Loren Rose, chief oper- ating o cer at Pyramid Lumber, said.
“When you think about the state and all the timber, and now to only have eight mills, that’s really not very many when you think about the landscape. For us it’s painful because they’re part of the team. We’ve all been ghting this ght together.”
At 9 a.m. on Aug. 18, the last logs ran through the Columbia Falls plywood plant, followed a day later by the last products at the lumber mill, marking the end of an era for the former Plum Creek empire. Weyerhaeuser Co., which merged with Plum Creek earlier this year, cut 72 jobs while sending another 146 employ- ees to the mills in Evergreen, where extra shifts are being added. Another 100 posi- tions at Weyerhaeuser’s administrative o ce in Columbia Falls, known as the Cedar Palace, are also being phased out.
Alongside Loren Rose, left, COO of Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Gov. Steve Bullock discusses the National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative on Aug. 16. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
initiative would examine existing forest management programs to determine their strengths and weaknesses; create a mecha- nism for states and land managers to share best practices, case studies and policy options; and perform an investigation of collaborative forest landscape restoration.
Bullock’s Republican opponent in this year’s gubernatorial race, Greg Gianforte, responded to the initiative announcement by accusing the governor of dragging his feet while Montana’s tim- ber industry su ered.
“Unfortunately for the Montana tim- ber industry, Governor Bullock has waited nearly four years to take meaningful action on this issue, and it’s ‘too little, too late’ for many Montana timber industry workers,” Gianforte’s campaign said in a statement. “The plans also do nothing to address the issue of frivolous lawsuits that consistently derail management projects.”
Amid the constant debate that has raged for decades, Pyramid Lumber and a select few other mills are hanging on. In Seeley Lake, the company has cut back its operating hours from 50 to 40 hours a week in the last year. When Rose, the COO, started 30 years ago, it was hum- ming at 80 hours a week.
“We need to gure out how to make money on 40 hours. This might be the new normal,” he said.
“We’re still here. We’re still ghting
the ght.”
numerous small res in recent weeks, Flathead County Fire Service Area Manager Lincoln Chute said re ghters have been able to get ahold of the burns quickly. However, the local re danger remains high.
“We’re holding our own here, but this wind is a big concern,” Chute said Mon- day morning. “We’ve been able to catch the res we’ve had but that could change with these winds.”
Fires have also erupted in the Spokane region, forcing evacuations and scorch- ing several homes. No injuries have been reported, but several hundred residents have ed the northeast area of Spokane as over 4,000 acres burn.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
“It hit Columbia Falls and it hit us all when (Weyerhaeuser) said they were going to both consolidate some of their operations and actually close a couple plants,” Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said.
Bullock was in Seeley Lake last week to announce a new initiative through the Western Governors’ Association that will focus on national forest and rangeland management and try to prevent further closures such as Weyerhaeuser’s.
“People often talk about forestry issues and the timber industry and the number of acres, board feet and stream miles restored,” Bullock, chairman of the WGA, said on Aug. 16. “We cannot for- get, though, that it’s people that do the
work; people who know how to work in the woods; how to sustainability harvest trees; how to restore our watersheds. The work we do on these issues and the successes that we’ve had is because people with very di ering ideologies have come together, project by project and dollar by dollar. Montana’s natural resources are vital and they should transcend party politics.”
With the closure of the two facilities last week, Montana has now seen 30 mills close in the last 25 years.
Montana’s Democratic governor said the WGA initiative would work on devel- oping collaborative solutions in the American West for federal, state and pri- vate land management. Bullock said the
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
Fire Season Heats Up
Copper King Fire near Thompson Falls had burned over 6,900 acres by Aug. 22
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
A wild re in Sanders County doubled in size earlier this week, forcing the evac- uation of homes along the Little Thomp- son River and sending smoke into the Flathead Valley.
Fueled by warm temperatures and wind, the Copper King Fire grew from 3,400 acres to more than 6,900 acres on Aug. 21, according to Public Information O cer Glenda Scott. The re is located east of Thompson Falls and north of Montana Highway 200.
An early morning run on Aug. 22 forced the evacuation of homes along the Little Thompson River. Residents along the main Thompson River corridor, including
the Loneman Creek, Bu alo Bill, Hide- away Lane, Weeksville and Munson Creek areas had also been given a pre-evacua- tion notice and were being told to be ready to leave a moments notice.
An emergency shelter has been set up at the Thompson Falls High School.
Greg Poncin’s Type 1 Incident Man- agement team assumed control of the re on Aug. 22.
Wind gusts of 35 to 45 miles per hour were expected to fuel rapid- re growth this week as re ghters spent most of their time reinforcing re lines and set- ting up structure protection.
As of Aug. 22, the re was 30 percent contained. There are currently 317 per- sonnel assigned to the re, along with
three Type 1 crews, ve Type 2 crews, 14 engines, seven water tenders and seven helicopters.
“We want to keep the lines we have,” Scott said.
Forest Road No. 56 is currently closed from the Copper King community to mile marker 17. Road No. 5587 (Spring Creek) and Forest Trails No. 345 (Todd Creek), No. 368 (Big Hole Lookout), No. 370 (Spring Creek), No. 372 (Munson Creek), No. 445 (Koo-Koo-Sint) and No. 1268 (Bay State) are all closed. The Copper King and Clark Memorial camp- grounds are also closed.
Fire o cials said additional road and area closures are likely as the re grows. While the Flathead Valley has had
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AUGUST 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM