Montana Wilderness News

Montana delegation must work together

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:04:21 -0500

It's not exactly a match made in heaven, but a match made by the Montana electorate.

The state's congressional delegation, when Congress reconvenes in the new year, will consist of U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, Democrats who have both served in their respective posts for several years now, and newly elected Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines.

Community Round Table: 70,000 hunters can't be wrong

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:08:28 -0400

While politicians are busy reminding us at every opportunity that it's election season, it's important that Montanans across the state take a moment to remind candidates that we're also in the middle of a different season: hunting season. And if there's one message that hunters need to send to candidates for office, it's that good wildlife habitat equals good hunting.

Tester gets Montana Forest Jobs Act in Senate appropriations bill

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:26:56 -0400

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced the inclusion of his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act in a Senate appropriations bill at a rally Friday on the University of Montana campus.

"If you join me, we'll be able to get it across the finish line," Tester told some 100 supporters from UM and the woods and sawmills of western Montana.

Tester said after a number of conversations he had with Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island who chairs the Senate Interior Appropriations Committee, Reed "understands how important this bill is to our national forests."

Act will boost fire preparation

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:07:40 -0400

The dog days of summer may be behind us, but the remnants of the recent fire season remind us once again that it pays dividends to be better prepared.

In Montana’s Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys, we've learned the hard way that it's better to be ahead of the curve than behind it. That's why we've been using smart investments from a federal program to reduce more and more hazardous fuel loads every year in our forests.

Forest Jobs Act best way to protect Mont.’s wild places

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:12:11 -0400

There is a wonderful place in the extreme southwest corner of Montana. It's a mountain range critical to wildlife migration, and it harbors the absolute headwaters of the Missouri River, one of the state's mighty blue-ribbon trout streams.

The Centennial Mountains and its highest point, Mount Jefferson, are one of Montana's most rugged landscapes. This rare east-west range has nearly 100,000 roadless acres and supports healthy populations of mule deer, elk, moose, and bear. That's why most Montanans agree it should stay that way.

Despite sluggish economy, hunting expenditures grow

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:14:45 -0400

Over the past six years, hunting expenditures for big game, particularly elk, in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge have been on the rise despite the slow economy, according to data compiled by the Montana Forests Coalition, a partnership of business owners, loggers, sportsmen and conservationists.

Six years of data from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks shows in 2006 sportsmen hunting big game in hunting districts on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge spent $26.3 million in direct expenditures.

Forest jobs bill: Act harks back to Scapegoat

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:24:14 -0400

I appreciate the Missoulian's description of the creation of the Scapegoat Wilderness ("Celebrating Scapegoat Wilderness," Aug. 19). The editorial rightfully celebrates wilderness protection for places in Montana special to so many Montanans. With Scapegoat, we can especially appreciate how it came into existence - through a grassroots process, which established a lasting legacy using consensus, compromise, and cooperation.

Timber compromise

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:48:15 -0400

In eastern Montana, oil and gas production is booming, while in the western part of the state the timber industry continues its decline. This begs the question, can we create a viable, long-term timber industry? An industry for the 21st century, not the previous one? An important step in achieving this is to provide the industry a predictable supply of timber from public lands. How do we do this?

Follow the sawdust

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:43:42 -0400

It’s only January and I’m already tired of the political games of 2012. With that said, I’d like to address a question to Rep. Rehberg. Mr. Rehberg, do you or do Montana’s sawmill owners know more about the timber industry? That’s an honest question because, if I’m not mistaken, the sawmills who support Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act say that it’s good for their business. But in a recent tour of newspaper editorial boards you’ve claimed the bill doesn’t guarantee timber work. So who has it right?

Guest Editorial: Separating myth from fact in FJRA

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:41:02 -0400

Shortly after Senator Jon Tester introduced his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (FJRA), I got a call from a woman worried about Tester taking away her elderly friends' right to drive their pickup into the East Pioneer Mountains to enjoy summer picnics.

"Wait a minute," I replied. "Don't you and your friends understand

that wilderness only involves the wildest, most remote places where there are no roads?" I explained that the places where we drive on forest roads aren't roadless lands. They're not affected in any way by wilderness designations.