Project creates jobs, protects environment

Guest Editorial in Missoulian
By LOREN ROSE, FRANK MARADEO and SMOKE ELSER

One year ago, the Jocko Lakes fire blew up and burned to the edge of Seeley Lake. The fire, created by a lightning strike several days earlier, soon became the highest-priority fire in the nation, burning 36,388 acres and costing $30 million. Only courageous firefighting and a last-second weather change kept the fire from burning through the community.

Fires have always played a role in Montana’s forests and the combination of climate change, drought, past forest management practices, increasing temperatures, and more people living in or near the woods means future fires will impact Montana more, not less.

So what can Montanans do? In the Blackfoot and Clearwater River drainages, local folks have come together, crafting a proposal that creates jobs in the woods, increases community fire safety, enhances forest restoration, advances renewable energy development, and protects our backcountry and wilderness traditions for current and future generations.

Such home-grown collaborative projects are a model for future forestry work. The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project is supported by a broad range of local Montanans including the wood products industry, county commissioners, outfitters, recreation groups and conservationists.

The hazardous fuels situation within the Wildland Urban Interface around Seeley Lake - where the forest meets the community - has been greatly improved through coordinated efforts of the local Fuels Mitigation Task Force and cooperating agencies. However, a substantial amount of work remains to be done, and the Seeley Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest is looking at several areas for fuels treatment and ecological restoration using a combination of mechanical harvest and prescribed fire.

Forest restoration efforts are focused on the re-establishment of historical stand structure and ecological function in forests with an emphasis on safely returning fire to the land. This approach should greatly increase the resilience of our forests to the impacts of climate change and specifically to increasing occurrence of fire on the landscape.

In addition to increased fire safety, the project entails forest stewardship projects, and a biomass project in Seeley Lake, as well as adding 87,000 acres to the Bob Marshall-Scapegoat and Mission Mountain wilderness areas. The proposal is entirely consistent with the existing Lolo National Forest land and Resource Management Plan.

A detailed analysis shows that the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project would provide a variety of direct economic benefits to local communities and businesses n including 45 to 50 new jobs, increased small business income, and at least $1.2 million in new wages n while continuing long-term benefits to the region from healthier lands, cleaner water and better habitat.

We support this proposal not only because of its fire safety and economic aspects but also because of the importance the project places on recreation and preserving our rural way of life. The Blackfoot-Clearwater is one of the best places for hunting, hiking and other outdoor activities, and we’re working together to protect continued access and backcountry traditions so important to Montana families.

The Blackfoot Clearwater Project is the product of several years of negotiations between the widest possible variety of interests in the same cooperative spirit as other successful projects in the Blackfoot drainage. These efforts represent the future of forest work in Montana: working together on the landscape to find the right balance of sustainable forestry, while protecting traditional ranching, hunting, fishing and other uses in concert with conserving water, wildlife, and wilderness.

The Blackfoot Clearwater proposal shows there can be a different, cooperative way of doing things n the right things for the right reasons. We believe the project’s balanced approach to the economy and conservation will have tremendous benefits to restoring our forests, protecting our communities, and benefiting our small-town way of life.

Now we need Congress to take this project across the finish line. The local support, expertise and local cooperation all are in place so that the project can provide immediate benefits to Montanans while preserving our long-term traditions. Please join us in urging our congressional delegation to support this proposal and protect our jobs, our community and our forests.

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Loren Rose is the controller with Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Frank Maradeo is Fire Chief with Seeley Lake Rural Fire District and Smoke Elser heads Wilderness Outfitters Consulting.

Link to Missoulian page.