Community finds common ground on area forestry project, readers say
Letter to the Editor,
For decades, the Kootenai (National Forest) has been caught in a tug-of-war between factions wishing to set the future of this lush and productive piece of national forest.
The good news is, some of those folks – including loggers, timber mills, local communities, and conservationists – have realized they can get further when they pull together, instead of against each other.
Groups including Idaho Forest Group, Troy Snowmobile Club, Lincoln County, Cabinet Resource Group, Montana Wilderness Association, and the Yaak Valley Forest Council, are moving beyond the Timber Wars to build a better future for our forests, communities and wild places.
The results of this work can be seen in the Sparring Bulls project on the Three Rivers Ranger District, near Troy.
These stakeholders have been working with the Kootenai National Forest to manage national forest land south of Highway 2, from near Troy to Ross Creek and spanning from the crest of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness to the Idaho border.
This part of the Kootenai includes particularly productive timberlands, excellent wildlife habitat, and important waters for fishing and recreation, like Bull and Spar Lakes.
After three years of meetings, field trips and studying maps, we believe the Forest Service is proposing a sound project that will benefit the land and people alike.
It will provide logs for jobs and building materials. It will make the forest better adapted to fire, helping protect local homes and property. It will improve habitat for wildlife, from grizzly and black bears to elk. It will improve water quality and stream conditions for fish.
We came together as a diverse group ready to compromise with each other and working in collaboration with the USFS on this project and they in return listened to our concerns and they made changes to the project.
The benefits that our communities will see from this project in terms of jobs, reduced fire risk, healthier forests and big game populations are all dependant on us as communities working together and supporting the Forest Service in creating good projects for the forest. Working together we’ll get more done and see better results then if we continue to fight.
The Kootenai National Forest is important to the people of Montana and the people of the United States.
People will continue to disagree about what is exactly best for the land. But it is encouraging to know that Montanans can come together and help the Forest Service design a common sense plan for the future.
We hope to see much more of this kind of work elsewhere in the Kootenai National Forest in years to come.
— Robyn King, Yaak Valley Forest Council
— Ed Levert, County
— Bill Martin, Cabinet Resource Group
— Tim Dougherty, Idaho Forest Group
— Sarah Lundstrum, Montana Wilderness Association
— Jerry Wandler, Troy Snowmobile Club