Montana Wilderness News: Editorials

There are those who believe in the old school way of doing
things and those of us who believe in a new way of doing
things.

Unfortunately for Montana's forests and the people who depend on
them, the old school way of doing things hasn't worked out so well.
Years ago, even mainstream conservation groups like the Montana
Wilderness Association were at war with the timber industry.
Because of years of fighting, neither side got what they wanted.
Nobody won. And everyone paid the price.

The current public wrangling about Senator Jon Tester's jobs and
wilderness legislation heralds the many opinions about land use and
protection policies. Perhaps somewhat disguised at the moment, but in a
very real way, this heated debate represents a celebration of the
passion we Montanans hold for the land and waters.

When Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester introduced his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act last July, he did something that is all too uncommon in today’s political world. He kept a promise.

He’d told conservationists, loggers and recreationists that if they could reach agreement on contentious issues involving public lands – including wilderness designation, deciding where logging and habitat restoration is appropriate, and, most importantly, getting popular support for their ideas – he’d introduce a bill to help implement their vision.

The economy might have soured in 2009, but the world’s love of Yellowstone National Park certainly didn’t. Despite thinning pocketbooks and growing anxieties — or perhaps because of both — a record-shattering 3.3 million people visited the world’s first national park. The lesson here is that whether the economy is bullish or bearish, Yellowstone is a magical place where people of all backgrounds can restore their spirit.

In a recent guest opinion (Missoulian, Nov. 9), Paul Edwards calls Sen. Jon Tester’s bill “a federal welfare program for the forest products industry” in the state of Montana. Edwards is far from right. Tester’s bill is not an act to save a few mills but is a necessary step toward better forest management.

Since Sen. Jon Tester introduced his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act in July, it has been praised as the first legislation in two decades to bring Montana wilderness advocates and logging advocates together. It also has been criticized by people on both sides of the public-lands debate who want more or less than the proposal would provide.

The bill, which deals exclusively with portions of national forests in Western Montana, had a Senate Energy Committee hearing earlier this month.

It’s a positive step for Rep. Denny Rehberg to get out in Montana to hear public comment on Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, and we urge the Congressman to pay more attention to his constituents than the fringe groups claiming they had no voice in the development of the fundamentally sound, compromise bill.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” may not have the word “wilderness” in its title, but it’s proving to be just as much of a lightning rod as any that have included that word in the past.

Tester’s bill is the result of an unprecedented compromise crafted by a coalition of industry and environmental interests. It would set aside some 677,000 acres of land as wilderness – mostly in Southwest Montana – while mandating logging on some 7,000 acres of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest land per year for the next 10 years.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is remarkably unfazed that a high-ranking federal official expressed serious concerns about his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.

At the bill's first committee hearing in Washington Dec. 17, Agriculture Department Undersecretary Harris Sherman balked at a main provision of the bill that mandates logging or thinning on 7,000 acres of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest every year for the next 10 years.

Montana has long been famous for its blue-ribbon trout streams, premier hunting and access opportunities for the public. For most Montana families, hunting and fishing on public lands and waterways is an important part of their outdoor heritage.

Our way of life here is unique, and people from around the world come to experience what we enjoy in our backyards.