It is now a year since the Jocko Lakes wildfire grabbed headlines across the nation and threatened the town of Seeley Lake. The fire burned over 35,000 acres of federal, state and private lands in a display of power and whimsy that only earth’s natural forces can command. Before the smoke cleared from the sky, damage assessments to a wide range of resource values began and plans were developed to begin the process of restoration and salvage. The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Plum Creek Timber Co. acted swiftly to minimize their losses to their constituents, i.e. the people of Montana and company shareholders. To its credit, the Lolo National Forest developed a reasoned proposal to salvage a portion of its timber values on lands allocated to timber management in the Forest Plan.
Unfortunately, the administrative process for environmental review of federal actions, such as harvesting timber, is not tailored to address the exigent realities of fire salvage and the expedited deterioration of fire-damaged and -killed trees. Thus the public’s assets (usually millions of dollars) are quickly compromised and opportunities to minimize environmental damage by getting the fine filter of branchwood and tree tops on the ground to protect soils are lost while forest specialists labor through a process that has become nearly meaningless except as a delay to implementation of well understood forestry practices and techniques. That the analysis did not begin until last January is testament to the reduced workforce in the agency. That a decision is not expected until a year later is hardly acceptable with the economic and environmental issues at hand. If you are not embarrassed by this state of affairs, you should be.
Steven E. Clark, Bozeman
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