Page 5 - Flathead Beacon // 12.24.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
NEWS
Forest Management Reform Rises to Forefront in the West
DECEMBER 24, 2014 | 5
W•O•R•D•S of the Week
AN INDEX OF RECENT NEWSMAKERS
MARKUS KAARMA
The Missoula man was found guilty of deliberate homicide for shooting and killing a German exchange student caught trespassing in his garage, despite arguing that a state “castle doctrine” law allowed him to use deadly force to protect his home and family.
CUBA
President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. and Cuba will start talks on normalizing full diplomatic relations, marking the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades.
BOB STITT
The head football coach at the Division II Colorado School of Mines the past 15 seasons was named last week to the same job at the University of Montana.
WHITEFISH TRAILS
The Whitefish Legacy Partners fulfilled its 10-year goal by raising $2 million to secure a permanent conservation and recreation easement on 1,520 acres in the Beaver Lakes area in Whitefish.
Timber officials hope bipartisan effort to pass public lands bills will clear way for forest management reform
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
As the tug-of-war over timber con- tinues in Montana, logging officials are hopeful that the recent bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill to approve a slew of pub- lic lands bills could foreshadow compre- hensive forest management reform in the next year when Republicans take control of Congress.
Others, including local conservation groups, are concerned that Montana’s congressional delegation is turning its back on the environment and passing leg- islation without proper public input, cit- ing the 11th-hour attachment of the lands package to the nation’s must-pass defense bill.
By passing the collection of 70 national public land management bills, lawmakers cleared the way for forest management re- form to rise to the forefront as the next ob- vious topic of debate in the West.
The issue was a familiar talking point for politicians on the campaign trail in Western states, particularly among Re- publicans. Many of those same places, in- cluding Montana, saw a significant shift from blue to red when voters hit the polls on Election Day.
Montana’s new leadership in D.C. will feature two Republicans — former U.S. representative and incoming Sen. Steve Daines, who replaces Democrat John Walsh, and freshman Rep. Ryan Zinke —
Workers process logs at Wild Montana Wood outside Kalispell. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
and one Democrat, Sen. Jon Tester. The new makeup will look similar to a decade ago, when Sen. Max Baucus was the lone Democrat among Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and Republican Rep. Denny Reh- berg.
Already, the delegation has shown the ability to work together, notably Daines and Tester, which leads some to believe forest management reform could actually overcome the perpetual gridlock in D.C.
“I think there is room for a lot more collaboration at the federal level, whether it’s moving forward a land management bill or my forest jobs bill, but we need to take into account timber, recreation and wilderness,” Tester said last Friday while visiting West Glacier to celebrate the North Fork Watershed Protection Act being passed with other lands bills. “If we take those three things into account,
we can get some good things done in D.C. Now, for those folks who don’t want any trees cut, they’re probably not going to be too happy with that. But the truth is, that isn’t a realistic outcome, and it’s not a good strategy for managing Montana’s forests. A lot of the folks who are opposed to this don’t want anything to happen, they are perfectly happy with obstructionism and that’s not how you move a country for- ward. That’s not how you do what’s right for Montana.”
Zinke, who will be a member of the Natural Resources Committee in the House, has also come out in favor of work- ing with Daines and Tester “to fight for real reforms that allow Montanans to re- sponsibly harvest our timber and make a good living, while also conserving the nat-
See Timber PAGE 24
NEW YEARS SALE 15% Off
JOIN US FOR FIRST NIGHT FLATHEAD 2015! Come in New Year’s Eve for special savings!
Open New Year’s Eve 9am - 9pm Closed New Years Day
Storewide
Now through New Years Eve
Mon - Sat. 9am - 6pm • Sunday 10:30 - 4:30