The public is invited to attend and there will be time for comments.
The Fire Suppression Interim Committee will meet beginning at 10 a.m. Monday in the Tammany Conference Room of the Bitterroot River Inn.
The committee is especially interested in hearing public reaction to several draft documents it has produced in recent months.
The documents are available on the committee's Web site at http://www.leg.mt.gov/fire under "Materials and Committee Recommendations to Review Prior to Participating in Public Hearings."
"The committee has been meeting in Helena for almost a year now to talk about reducing the costs of fire suppression and the impacts on our local communities," said Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby, who will chair the Hamilton meeting.
"This hearing will be the first 'road show' to a region significantly impacted by fires," Laible added. "Local citizens will have a chance to hear testimony from the various agencies involved in fire suppression and ask questions of experts in the field of fire suppression and forest health."
The Monday agenda will include a question-and-answer session with representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Also on the agenda will be presentations:
- The Bitterroot National Forest perspective on fire suppression, by Dave Bull, forest supervisor;
- Biomass, by Kristiina Vogt, professor of ecosystem management at the University of Washington College of Forest Resources.
- Fire mitigation in the wildland-urban interface, by Steve Woodruff, deputy director of Western Progress, Northern Region;
- Forest health in the Bitterroot, by Sonny LaSalle, Big Sky Coalition; and
- Fire history and the ecology of Montana forests, by Steve Arno, science writer and former research forester with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula.
On Tuesday, the committee will reconvene at 9 a.m. Members will depart by bus at 10:30 a.m. to tour Hayes Creek fuel reduction projects, French Basi, and the Middle East Fork of the Bitterroot River.
A complete agenda is available at http://www.leg.mt.gov/fire.
"The committee's goals are to draft legislation that provides the DNRC with additional tools for fire suppression, create a seamless system of interface between the various fire-fighting agencies, make better use of local contractors, and find ways to influence the federal system of fire suppression, including fuels reduction," Sen. Laible said.
The committee plans to hold similar public hearings in other communities, including Lewistown (May 16), Miles City (May 30), and Seeley Lake, Thompson Falls, and Libby (June 19-20).
Members of the Fire Suppression Interim Committee are Sens. John Cobb, R-Augusta; Kim Hansen, D-Harlem; Rick Laible, R-Darby; Dave Lewis, R-Helena; Gerald Pease, D-Lodge Grass; and Carol Williams, D-Missoula; and Reps. Steve Bolstad, D-Great Falls; Jim Keane, D-Butte; Krayton Kerns, R-Laurel; Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek; Chas Vincent, R-Libby; and Bill Wilson, D-Great Falls.
For more information, contact Leanne Heisel, legislative research analyst and committee staffer, at 444-3593 or lheisel@mt.gov.
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