Timber sale approved near Libby
Bob Henline
Reporter
A large timber sale on the Kootenai National Forest? Could it really be so?
Lincoln County officials and representatives of the timber industry said they are cautiously optimistic about the prospect of additional logging activity after the U.S. Forest Service approved the sale of roughly 39 million board feet of timber at a site less than 30 miles northeast of Libby.
The U.S. Forest Service signed a Record of Decision for the East Reservoir Project in the Kootenai National Forest on Oct. 27. A statement released by the Forest Service last week noted that the project includes 90,000 acres of land and will add 8,845 acres to the timber area.
The timber sale represents a greater number of board feet than the Kootenai National Forest typically harvests in a year. The timber harvest in 2012 brought in 24 million board feet; during the logging heyday of the 1980s, however, the annual timber harvest often topped 200 million board feet.
Paul Tisher, one of the owners of TBC Timber Inc., said he hopes the timber sale will avoid any further delays. The first request for public comment on the project was issued in December of 2010.
“Anything that can add harvesting timber is definitely good,” he said. “Everybody benefits from increased harvesting.”
The timber contracts could be sold to logging companies within the next 90 days, according to Pat Price with the Forest Service. Price said three packages were pre-advertised for sale, which allowed potential buyers to survey the area and begin to build their bids. Bids are generally open for 30 days and harvesting can begin immediately upon award, weather conditions and harvesting restrictions permitting.
Forest Service spokesman Willie Sykes said additional sales packages are expected to be offered for public bid before the end of the year. Those packages could include Small Business Administration set-asides, stewardship contracts and traditional contracts of various sizes.
The set-aside contracts are reserved for smaller timber harvesters and intended to help stimulate local business. Stewardship contracts involve the harvester providing maintenance and stewardship services in other parts of the Kootenai National Forest in lieu of pre-established portions of the harvesting fees.
County officials said they would welcome the economic benefits of additional timber harvesting. Timber sales create additional revenue for the county, which receives a percentage of timber receipts paid to the Forest Service, and pump more money into the local economy as more people work and spend their money at local businesses.
Outgoing Lincoln County Commissioner Tony Berget said he appreciates the efforts of the local Forest Service team, but noted that “we hear about this stuff, then the projects get litigated and nothing happens.”
Denise Beck, the National Environmental Policy Act coordinator for the Forest Service, said parties with objections to the project are still able to litigate and cause delays in the sale packages, even though the Record of Decision is now final.
That possibility is what dampens the enthusiasm of local officials with regard to the expanded timber harvest.
Commissioner-elect Mark Peck echoed Berget’s concern.
“The whole thing depends on whether or not it’s litigated,” Peck said. “It does us no good if we can’t act on it.”
During the public comment phase of the project, objections were raised from the Alliance for The Wild Rockies of Helena. The organization had requested changes that would expand protected habitats for lynx and bears.
Mike Garrity, spokesman for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said he had yet to review the final Record of Decision and “couldn’t really guess at all” if the organization was going to file a lawsuit that could delay implementation of the new project plan.
“We would rather not do that and hope that the Forest Service made the changes,” Garrity said.