Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 12.24.14

24 | DECEMBER 24, 2014
NEWS
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ural beauty of Montana,” according to a statement he issued the Beacon.
Daines has already said that his pri- ority will be drafting legislative reforms to “restore active management of na- tional forests and address the systemic challenges facing federally-managed forests.”
Last week the freshman congress- man from Bozeman, who will be an in- coming member of the Senate Commit- tee on Energy and Natural Resources, sent an open letter to Montana elected officials, conservation groups, timber industry representatives, sportsmen and other key stakeholders seeking in- put on revising the nation’s forest man- agement.
In the letter, Daines expressed his support for increasing “responsible timber harvests on nonreserved lands.” Among the changes he said he plans to focus on are providing timely environ- mental reviews of timber projects, re- ducing obstructive appeals and litiga- tion and setting clear harvest targets for the U.S. Forest Service to meet while giving the agency the latitude to do so.
“It is imperative that forest reform legislation improve conditions in all 10 of Montana’s national forests, create good-paying jobs in our timber indus- try, 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 wrote.
This renewed effort is fueling opti- mism within the timber industry, which has seen shuttered sites and reduced log harvests in recent decades.
“The best thing I see is the biparti- san support seems to be there between our delegation. They’re working togeth- er. They’re communicating. That’s huge for Montana and that’s huge for our in- dustry,” said Chuck Roady, vice presi- dent and general manager at F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. in Columbia Falls.
“I look at this new Congress as a new opportunity for forestry reform.”
Tom Ray, vice president of northwest resources and manufacturing for Plum Creek in Kalispell, said the company is encouraged by the bipartisan efforts be- tween Daines and Tester.
“We’re very heartened to see bipar- tisan support. That’s what it will take to move reform forward,” Ray said. “We’ll be urging them to increase the active forest management. We believe active forest management is good for every- body.”
Others are less optimistic about the delegation’s plans for managing public lands.
“(Tester) and (Daines) seem to have a contest to see who can be more anti- environmental,” said Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, an environmental organi- zation based in Helena.
The management of public lands is a perennial source of debate in Northwest Montana, where two of the most pro-
ductive and contentious national forests exist: the Kootenai and Flathead. Com- bined, the two national forests span 4.6 million acres. While boasting a large sea of timber, the two forests also contain nearly 2 million acres of protected wil- derness and hundreds of animals, in- cluding many threatened or endangered species, such as grizzly bears, bull trout and lynx.
The intertwined relationship of flush timber and beloved wildlife and wild places has consistently placed the two forests in the middle of contested timber sales and lawsuits.
“This whole push that there needs to be more logging has to be tempered with valuing the water quality, valuing fish, valuing wildlife. That really brings a lot of money into the economy up here,” said Arlene Montgomery, program di- rector of the Friends of the Wild Swan, an environmental organization based in Bigfork.
“People come from all over the world to catch a glimpse of a grizzly bear. They don’t come to look at clearcuts.”
Recently, Kootenai National Forest officials approved the sale of roughly 39 million-board-feet of timber northeast of Libby. The timber sale, named the East Reservoir Project, calls for the har- vest and fuel treatment of 8,845 acres near Lake Koocanusa.
Following the approval, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed a 60-day no- tice of intent to sue under the Endan- gered Species Act, citing potential harm to threatened and endangered species and their habitats.
The environmental organization continues to review the project with at- torneys and has not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit, according to Garrity.
“There’s the option of working it out and ideally that’s what would happen to avoid litigation,” he said.
If the sale were tied up in court, it would mark the latest in a long line of prominent sales halted in the region.
Following several court decisions that halted timber sales in recent months, both Plum Creek and Stoltze have reduced production at their mills, citing a shortage of logs.
Plum Creek continues to operate two shifts at 36 hours per week, instead of 40, at its Columbia Falls sawmill. Ray said the company is reviewing the situ- ation on a month-to-month basis and could return to full shifts by spring.
Besides laying off 10 employees, Stol- tze has reduced its production hours in Columbia Falls from 80 hours per week to 60 hours since late September.
Roady said he hopes the mill would be able to return to full shifts after the holidays.
According to Forest Service data, the Flathead National Forest had six sepa- rate timber sales valued at over $100,000 in the last fiscal year. The Kootenai had four sales valued over $100,000 and one sale worth over $1 million.
“As a forester and a person that en- joys hiking around and hunting the land, I’d like to see more acres treated to im- prove our forests’ health,” Roady said.
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