Forest land management plan 'inadequate' says Larson

Lincoln County commissioner Greg Larson isn’t happy about the Kootenai National Forest Land Management plan, which was signed on Jan. 6 and entered into the Federal Register yesterday.

“The plan is inadequate as it stands. It’s inadequate to meet the financial needs of the Lincoln County. It’s inadequate to meet our workforce needs. And it’s inadequate to meet the timber management needs of the forest to prevent catastrophic fire loss,” Larson said.

The new forest plan, in addition to recommending four new wilderness areas, establishes a target timber harvest of 47.5 million board feet per year. Larson, along with other observers and interested parties, believe that number is too low.

During the logging heyday of the 1980s, timber harvesting in Lincoln County hit record levels. In 1988 alone, 324 million board feet of lumber were harvested from the Kootenai National Forest in Lincoln County. By 1998, that number had dropped to 153 million, and then again to 43 million board feet by 2013.

The county receives 25 percent of the receipts for timber and mining paid to the United States Forest Service for harvesting on federal lands. As the number of board feet drops, so does the county’s revenue.

Larson’s primary concern is economic. “We need jobs that come off the forest, not just the revenue from timber receipts or Payment in Lieu of Taxes or Secure Rural Schools. We need for our families to be able to work and sustain themselves. That’s the most important thing,” he said.

Commissioner Mark Peck took a more optimistic stand than Larson. “That goal is based upon limiting factors, not actual forest needs,” he said. “But it is not enough. The good news, though, is that there is diverse support for the concept that it’s not enough.”

The limiting factors to which Peck referred are litigation and the forest service’s budget for active management. Chris Savage, supervisor of the United States Forest Service, explained his limitations. “In the late 1980s and early 1990s we had close to 600 full-time employees on the Kootenai National Forest, producing receipts that were then shared with counties. Right now we have less than 300.”

That uncertainty impacts Lincoln County tremendously. “I’ve said it time and time again,” Larson said. “We need a predictable, sustainable source of timber. Without that we can’t get companies interested in investing in Lincoln County.”

Peck agreed, “We’ve got to rebuild the industry and capacity to handle more timber,” he said. “But we’ve got to have predictable amounts coming off the forest in order to do that.”

Peck said that he, along with the rest of the commission, will be working closely with state and federal officials to increase the budget for the forest service in order to increase the amount of timber harvested from the forest.

Peck praised the work of the Kootenai National Forest Stakeholders’ Coalition, a group that has come together from the timber industry, conservation and environmental groups, government and recreation users of the forest. That group, Peck said, has overcome their inherent differences of opinion and belief to work together for the good of the entire community with relation to the forest.

Robyn King, president of the stakeholders’ group, said her organization hasn’t taken a stand on the broader forest plan, although they did publicly support the East Reservoir Project that could result in several small-to-medium timber sales in Lincoln County this year.

“As you can imagine, due to the diversity of our group, there are quite a few opinions about the new forest plan!  The coalition did not work together on a joint response to the forest plan,” King said.

Peck points to the stakeholders’ group as an example of how forest management should take place. “The best solutions come from the closest spot to the impact. Who better to make the decisions than a diverse group of people living here, in and around the forest?”

That involvement will continue, promised King. “What we are looking forward to is our continued involvement at the project level collaborating with each other and with the United States Forest Service to find common ground agreements on vegetative management for the forest,” she said.

Peck supports the group’s involvement, “I want Lincoln County and the Kootenai National Forest to be the model for how to meet multiple use needs for the forest. We’ve got it all here, from industry to wilderness and conservation to recreational use. We can manage the forest for everyone. We can have it all.”