But the two counties in the heart of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest say reopening the process to update the forest's land use plan is just plain “a lousy idea.”
Last April, a coalition of conservation groups and timber industry officials proposed the plan that includes setting aside portions of the 3.3-million-acre forest for wilderness and as suitable timber base.
So far, the proposal has received a lukewarm reception from the Forest Service.
The comment period for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest's new land-use plan ended last October. The plan will guide management of the forest for the next decade or so.
The groups want the agency to reopen the process to consider their idea.
Since the plan was unveiled, the Forest Service has been hearing from lots of other folks saying they have their own plan, said Peri Suenram, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest planner.
“We've been getting lots of mail every day from people saying they're going to put together a partnership as well,” Suenram said.
It would be hard to accept the coalition's proposal without allowing everyone else another chance to submit additional comments, she said.
“We're under financial and time constraints,” Suenram said. “We've been working through this process for about five years. We've held over 140 meetings with different groups. There are a lot of people out there who feel like we've been collaborating and working together all along.”
The agency received about 10,000 comments on its draft plan through the end of October. Regional Forester Gail Kimbell will make the decision on whether or not to consider the partnership's plan.
The Missoula County Commission said it recognized the agency was too far along in the process to revise the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest Plan. Given the importance of the partnership's plan, the commission urged the Forest Service to consider the strategy as an alternative management plan.
“Missoula County has a direct interest in the success of the Partnership Strategy,” said the commission's letter. “Not only do many of our residents hunt, fish and camp in southwestern Montana, but our mills depend on a steady supply of wood products from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest.”
“Together, the Pyramid Mountain mill in Seeley Lake (150 employees), and the Roseburg (190 employees) and Smurfit-Stone mills (496 employees) in Missoula make significant contributions to the tax base of Missoula County,” the letter read.
Those three mills joined with Sun Mountain Lumber of Deer Lodge and RY Lumber of Townsend in the partnership. The three conservation groups are the National Wildlife Federation, Montana Wilderness Association and Montana Trout Unlimited.
Missoula County said the partnership's strategy balances timber management, wilderness protection and forest restoration. It represents a “remarkable effort to move us past the gridlock that stalled many Forest Service initiatives,” said its letter.
Commissions from Powell, Granite, Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Broadwater, as well as the consolidated Butte-Silver Bow government, also sent letters asking the agency to consider the plan. Gov. Brian Schweitzer has encouraged the agency to consider the plan.
The partnership's proposal has also received support from groups as diverse as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 28 in Missoula.
The letters lend weight to the partner's request that the Forest Service consider the strategy, said Tom France, director of the Northern Rockies office of the National Wildlife Federation.
“We've been working hard to explain our proposal to groups interested in the many uses of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest,” France said. “It's gratifying that so many of the local governments in the area think the plan is worth further consideration.”
The plan proposes to allocate about 713,000 acres of forest as potentially available for logging. The Forest Service's preferred alternative sets aside 215,000 acres. It would also designate 573,000 acres as recommended wilderness, compared with about 250,000 acres in the draft forest plan.
“While we know the plan doesn't please everyone, we believe it not only protects the key interests of many different users, but also represents the best strategy for moving forward,” France said.
Not everyone is enthralled with the partnerships' proposal.
Commissions from Beaverhead and Madison counties - which together contain 2 million of the
3.3-million-acre forest - are opposed to reopening the process. The two counties went together and hired a person to represent them through the yearlong process.
“We've spent four years working on this plan,” said Madison County Commissioner Dave Shulz. “There's been close to 140 different meetings. Š It's just a little too late to come up with a different plan at the 13th hour.”
Besides, there's no guarantee the three conservation groups included in the partnership can control the “lunatic fringe” that continues to file lawsuits and appeals to stop timber sales on federal lands, said Madison County Commissioner Ted Coffman.
Basin Creek near Butte is a good example, he said. Mainstream conservation groups supported logging in the city's watershed, but other environmental groups forced the issue into the courts where it continues to languish, Coffman said.
Most Madison County residents also oppose additional recommended wilderness, he said.
“Designating an area as recommended wilderness makes it a de facto wilderness,” Coffman said. “It takes away any management. If the Snowcrest is recommended for wilderness and bugs kill all the trees, the Forest Service won't be able to do a thing about it. It's a bad deal.”
The counties supporting the partnership proposal don't have as much to lose as Madison and Beaverhead counties, Coffman said.
“Almost all of this new wilderness is being proposed for Madison and Beaverhead counties,” he said. “We're the ones being hit with this, not them.”
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