Winter 2008 Newsletter #1

Big Sky Coalition Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 1 Winter 2008

Thank you for attending Big Sky Coalition's inaugural rally November 4, 2007 in Hamilton. The large turnout (over 635 people) surprised and inspired us all! We really do believe Montana's silent majority is becoming the vocal and influential majority, and we want to keep this momentum moving forward at a rapid pace.

So what can we do together to initiate large-scale fuel reduction efforts in our forests? The answer is plenty.

To achieve this goal, we have identified three major areas of emphasis for the Big Sky Coalition:

Education

This emphasis will focus on two areas:

A.) Why do we need to reduce forest fuels?
B.) What can we do with all the biomass generated by large, landscape-scale fuel reduction efforts?

We are researching technologies to convert forest biomass (cellulose) into bio-fuel. Converting this otherwise wasted material to bio-fuel, such as ethanol or methanol, is a winning effort for everyone involved, and it really is possible. We’re excited to share more information about this with you, as the potential for significant benefits to our environment and local and regional economy is truly staggering.

We are planning two more public meetings in the near future. The first will be a Biomass Symposium on Saturday, March 1 at the First Interstate building at the Hamilton fairgrounds, featuring representatives from the various currently available technologies, as well as emerging technologies.

The second meeting will be a public rally in the Kalispell area in April similar to the inaugural rally held in Hamilton, November 4th with a different panel of presenters. Most of the cost of this event will be borne by the Kalispell Business Organization.

Multiple Large Landscape Scale Projects

600,000 acres of the Bitterroot National Forest are outside Wilderness and in need of fuel reduction treatment. Many of these acres present grave wildfire threats to private land and should be the highest priority. We are working to get all players in this arena to move forward on long-term (10 year) contracts for restoration projects using the newly established 13 Principles of Restoration. The climate changes we are experiencing simply do not allow us to take "baby steps". We need to move quickly and THINK BIG.

Combine Technology and Common Sense to "Think Green" with Forest Biomass

Biomass produced from fuel reduction efforts can be converted to bio-fuels, and technology already exists to do this. Consider emphasis area 2, mentioned above, as an achievable goal. The average chipped or ground biomass produced from similar, private thinning operations in our valley is about 18 dry tons per acre. You don’t have to be a math whiz to realize how much material this is! A thousand acres, treated, will produce 18,000 tons of material. From this otherwise useless material, our experts advise us that we can expect a yield of over 3000 gallons of methanol per treated acre!

THIS REPRESENTS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY! We clean up our forests, making them more healthy, productive and less prone to catastrophic wildfire. We clean up our air quality, allowing us to live longer healthier lives; and, we have the potential to significantly reduce our dependence on imported oil.

The Bitterroot has about 600,000 acres of forests in need of treatment. Add acres in need of similar treatments on the Lolo, Flathead, Kootenai, Helena, and Beaverhead/Deerlodge National Forests and the potential biomass is too large to comprehend. We MUST HAVE emphasis area 2 moving forward if we hope to attract the private capital and grants necessary to develop commercially viable bio-fuel plants. The number of forest acres treated and subsequent flow of biomass are both critical.

I have drafted proposed legislation to give Governor Schweitzer a voice in the urgency of fuel reduction to protect communities from wildfires, and require a significant bond if someone sues to stop a project. The proposal is supported by our county commissioners and has also been shared with county commissioners in Wyoming. Senator Rick Laible is using the proposal in his committee looking at the cost of fighting wildfires. This committee will hold a public hearing in Hamilton on April 28 and 29 where I will testify. We urge you to attend.

Tom Robak and I have met with representatives of Senators Baucus and Tester, and Tom has spoken with Congressman Rehberg. All are supportive of our efforts. We hope to meet with Governor Schweitzer’s policy advisor soon. We have also met regularly with Dave Bull, Forest Supervisor of the Bitterroot National Forest, with the objective of achieving our emphasis area 2, landscape scale fuel reduction projects.

While we have been doing all of this, a diverse group of 34 people has completed a consensus effort to establish 13 Principles of Forest Restoration, providing the guiding direction for large-scale fuel reduction projects we are proposing. In addition, two smaller groups have been established, one on the Lolo National Forest in Missoula and one on the Bitterroot National Forest in Hamilton. Their goal of a large-scale fuel reduction project is the same as ours so we have joined them, and Bill Grasser is our representative on that group.

Due to excellent coverage of our first rally by the Missoulian and the Clark Fork Chronicle, the phone has not stopped ringing. Our first contact was from the Montana Wilderness Association. They, along with the National Wildlife Federation and Montana Trout Unlimited became partners with the saw-milling industry from Butte to Dillon to develop a compromise Forest Plan for the Beaverhead/Deerlodge National Forest. They want to do a similar partnership with us on the Bitterroot National Forest. We also met with the regional representative for the National Wilderness Society, and they too want to help us with fuel reduction projects.

Tom and Charlotte Robak met with Jim Miller, President of Friends of the Bitterroot, as well as a representative of the Wild West Institute, in an effort to better understand their points of view. Both groups have been the most active in lawsuits with the Bitterroot National Forest. We strongly believe that getting these groups involved in solutions will enable the Forest Service to be faster and more efficient in preparing landscape scale fuel reduction projects. Tom and Charlotte have also met with Stewart Brandborg, President of Bitterrooters for Planning with the same goal in mind.

We are developing a fund-raising campaign as we will need to raise considerably more than $10,000 to achieve success across all of our emphasis areas. We raised about $5000.00 at the first rally and another $5000.00 has been received in donations and memberships since. We have over 300 households on the mailing list and about 80 actual memberships.

The most cost-efficient way to communicate with you is through our web site: http://www.bigskycoalition.org. The next most efficient method is to email updates to you, and the most costly method is to print the newsletter and mail it to you, as we are doing this one time.

I encourage you to become a member of the Big Sky Coalition by completing and returning the enclosed application. Please include your email address to ensure timely communication. We will keep you informed of our progress every step of the way. The stakes are high—our physical, economic and environmental health is at stake—and, with your help, we are committed to making a real difference.

Please feel free to phone, email, or use the interactive features on our site to voice your opinions and feedback about how we're doing. We look forward to hearing from you, and thanks again for your support!

Veto J. "Sonny" LaSalle
Executive Director,
Big Sky Coalition
sonny@bigskycoalition.org
406-375-0871

The sideshow is not the main act

Heated Forest Use Meeting Results in Investigation Into Threat

The real story isn't the supposed threat made at the meeting. It's the larger story of our public lands dying of neglect and divisiveness fueled by infighting between stakeholders (GO and NGO) who choose not to be civil to each other.

Can't we all just get along here in the Bitterroot? There's a common-sense solution out there somewhere. We all live here. We all own these public lands. We share this planet's resources. We share a responsibility to be good stewards of the land. Blaming anyone or their beliefs for the problems and issues we face is little more than a lightning rod for the weak minded.

We have real problems in search of real solutions.

Let's talk about that.

Link to NewWest article.

Analysis of Fire Season Data (BNF 1989 - 2007)

Here's a brief presentation that pretty much tells the story:

Do nothing to reduce fuel:
"At a 2% annual burn rate, the entire Bitterroot National Forest would burn every 50 years."

Do something:
"Forest restoration projects which include significant fuel reduction and stand density reduction components can reduce the biomass available for intense wildfires."

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." -Henry de Bracton

This presentation prepared by Dan Thompson, vice president of Ravalli County Off Road Users.

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