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FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS DECEMBER 25, 2013 | 9

Tester’s Forest Bill Sails Through Committee

Legislation clears hurdle after

more than four years and moves

toward Senate consideration

By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon

The latest draft of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs
and Recreation Act, which would expand wilderness
designations and increase logging on Montana’s fed-
eral lands, has cleared an important hurdle and is posi-

tioned for consideration by the full Senate.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Com-
mittee on Dec. 19 reviewed the bill, which received bi-
partisan support. With the committee’s approval, the
measure is poised to go before the full Senate.
The bill has undergone changes since it was intro-
duced in 2009, during the senator’s irst term, when he
touted the measure as a compromise between stake-

holders in the timber industry, conservationists and
recreational users, and the product of a lengthy collab-
oration among diverse land users and business owners.
In its most recent iteration, the bill leaves intact a
mandate to harvest or thin 100,000 acres of timber in
the Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Kootenai national for-
ests during the next 15 years, but converts some 23,000

acres of proposed wilderness into less-restrictive rec-
reation areas that allow motorized use.
Sen. Jon Tester meets with residents of Columbia Falls at City Hall.
Still, Tester said the latest version is in line with the FILE PHOTO BY LIDO VIZZUTTI | FLATHEAD BEACON
spirit of his original measure.
“The intent of the bill is still there,” Tester said in “The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act will designate en that it permanently designates nearly 1 million acres
an interview with the Beacon. “The roots of collabo- and provide land for forest management projects such of wilderness and recreation and 100,000 acres for tim-
ration are still there, and that’s no small part of what as hazardous fuels reductions and provide timber ma- ber harvesting.
makes this bill special.”
terials for mills, creating jobs and all the good things It also had plenty of supporters in conservation and

The bill designates roughly 637,000 acres of new that low from job creation. It also designates some ar- sportsmen groups across the state.
wilderness and reserves about 360,000 acres as recre- eas as wilderness,” Risch said. “Although this law ap- Nick Gevock at the Montana Wildlife Federation
ation areas that permit some commercial and motor- plies to Montana lands, it directly afects Idahoans. said he’s seen scores of endorsements from Montana’s
ized use. Another change in the newest draft requires The original proposal closed the southern portion of hook and bullet community.
the U.S. Forest Service to ile a compliance report in the Mt. Jeferson to snowmobiling. This area is accessed “Sportsmen I talk to understand that Montana’s
event it fails to meet performance requirements, and directly from Idaho and is enjoyed by Idahoans who general ive-week rile season depends on secure habi-
guarantee that it won’t defer funds from other state snowmobile in that area. I have heard from many Ida- tat for big game,” said Gevock. “The Forest legislation
programs or Forest Service regions to implement the hoans protesting that closure.”
continues to pick up momentum from hunters and an-

program.
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act was irst intro- glers because it will protect those vital habitats while
“That’s important because it holds the Forest Ser- duced in 2009 as a measure to roll three local initia- also ensuring that good restoration work gets done in
vice accountable and won’t pull money from other re- tives on the Lolo, Kootenai and Beaverhead-Deerlodge the front country winter range.”
gions,” Tester said.
national forests into one comprehensive bill.
Wayne Hirst, a small business owner in Libby and
The committee passed Tester’s bill on a voice vote, It was touted as a compromise, and the latest ver- longtime supporter of the legislation says he hopes to
with all nine Democrats present voting in favor, includ- sion of the bill goes a step further to accommodate see bipartisan support from lawmakers next year.
ing Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Eight proponents of motorized use. It would convert 20,000 “For my community’s sake, I would like to see this

Republican committee members voted against Tester’s acres of proposed Snowcrest Wilderness Area into bill passed and done with in 2014,” said Hirst. “Obvi-
bill, including co-chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, a Re- a special management area that allows farmers and ously, that would be easier if Congress could be a bit
publican from Alaska, while two Republicans, James ranchers access on motorized vehicles to maintain wa- more like Montana and approach this like the biparti-
Risch of Idaho and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, ter systems.
san issue it is.”
joined the Democrats in support of the measure.
Still, Murkowski questioned the bill’s fairness giv-
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