Montana Politics
Wilderness Bill Analysis
Perspective on the Tester Forest Bill
I’ve been holding off writing anything about Senator John Tester’s Forest Jobs bill for a while. I’ve talked to many people, both supporters of Tester’s bill and those who have many questions about its implications. As most people in Montana know, Senator Tester combined three different logging/wilderness proposals formulated by collaborative efforts affecting all or portions of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, Seeley Lake District of the Lolo National Forest, and Three Rivers Ranger District Kootenai National Forest into one bill that will designate wilderness areas. But the bill also mandates a minimum acreage for logging, new ORV and mountain bike trails, plus some other tax payer supported goodies like the specific subsidy of a biomass plant for Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake. He then added some twists of his own.
Unlike some of my friends and associates, I do believe there are some good things in Tester’s legislation and other things that I could live with if there were some modification of the bill’s language.
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The President in Montana
In Montana, Obama Talks Health Care With Enthusiastic Crowd
President Barack Obama, appearing genuinely pleased to be back in the Big Sky state, talked health care Friday with an enthusiastic crowd at a Bozeman airport hanger, fielding a variety of questions from local residents and stressing the importance of creating a system that protects consumers from insurance company abuses.
"TV loves a ruckus," Obama said, in reference to the combative town hall meetings that have played out on cable news in recent weeks. "But what you haven't seen are the many constructive meetings going on across the country, people coming together to have a constructive discussion and asks questions. That reflects a lot more than what we're seeing on TV."
There were no confrontations or disruptions among the crowd of about 1,500, with the great majority appearing to be strong supporters of the president.
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Profile: A Conservationist's Legacy
Steward Extraordinaire: Jim Cusker’s Long Commitment to Missoula Farmland
In 2005, the Missoula Board of County Commissioners appointed 18 rural landowners to the Open Lands Working Group, a new committee to help preserve rural Montana traditions, conserve open space and protect treasured landscapes from unwise development.
The members were asked to go to the areas of the county they represented and take photos of what was so special about the land. Naturally, they brought back pictures of mountains and meadows, rivers and birds, wildflowers and children, elk and trees –- all of the things Montanans love and want to save for future generations.
But one representative from Grass Valley brought back something different. Every single picture in Jim Cusker’s slideshow featured … irrigation pipes.
“If you just saw Jim’s slideshow, you’d think there was nothing but irrigated land out there,” says Wendy Ninteman, the western director of the Land Trust Alliance who shared the story. “Jim didn’t think there was anything more beautiful than that.”
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Press Release
Health Care Reform: Missoula Coalition to Hold Press ConferenceThe Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights, a nationwide organization in favor of health care reform that "puts patients first," will host a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today, August 13, at St. Patrick’s Hospital, in conference room #3 (ground floor). Here's what the group's press release says about the event:
The meeting will include Coalition members, local doctors, and medical professionals who will discuss the need for patient-centered healthcare reform. The Coalition is urging Members of Congress to slow down reform overhaul and take the necessary time to legislate policies that will keep patients first.
The event will include Dr. Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights, and president of the Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design. Also speaking will be Dr. Carter Beck, neurosurgeon practicing in Missoula at Montana Neurological Associates and local spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Patients Rights.
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WILDERNESS AND JOBS SEEM LIKE EVERYBODY'S ISSUES
Teachers for Wilderness
Have you ever heard about politics making strange bedfellows?
Well, the junior senator from Montana, Democrat Jon Tester, is certainly proving it.
His Wilderness bill (my adjective not his), S. 1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, has been opposed by lefty wilderness groups, but supported my mainstream wildernuts; predictably been opposed by motorheads, but supported by the timber industry. Mountain bikers who opposed the local collaborations that formed the basis for the bill haven't opposed the final product; and now, based on a recent poll, it seems, most Montanans, in general, like the Tester's approach--around 70 percent of them, in fact.
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The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act
Montanans Overwhelmingly Support Tester’s Forest Bill, Poll Shows
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, landmark legislation introduced last month by Montana Sen. Jon Tester, enjoys strong support from Montanans in nearly all walks of life, according to a new statewide poll.
The poll, conducted in late July by Boulder, Colorado-based Harstad Strategic Research (HSR), found that 7 in 10
Montanans support the new bill, which focuses on job creation, forest management, clean water protections, and issues relating to wilderness and the economy.
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A MILLION ACRES OR ZERO?
Debate Rages Over Roadless Lands in Tester’s Wilderness Bill
Back in 2006, Democrat Jon Tester vowed many times during his hard-fought campaign with Republican Conrad Burns to protect roadless lands, but his current critics claim that the junior senator's controversial bill, S. 1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, gives up more than a million acres of roadless country, mostly in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF), to future timber management.
It might be unintentional and there might be plenty of time to change course, but the bill's critics insist that as the legislation is currently written, it would trump the National Roadless Rule and congressionally designate that million acres of wild land as officially available for logging.
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GUEST COMMENTARY: PUBLIC NOT INVITED TO THE PARTY
Tester’s Jobs Bill Not Serious About Jobs
Introducing his first major legislative attempt (S-1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act), Senator Jon Tester declared, "It's time to get Montanans back to work in the woods." All Montanans should agree with that. So, is Senator Tester's 84-page bill serious about putting Montana back to work in the woods?
Consider what Montana state forester Bob Harrington recently wrote: "[Since] 2000, the mountain pine beetle has killed an estimated 3 million acres of Montana forests," 300,000 acres a year and counting. Never mind Montana's wildfire totals since 2000.at least another three million?
In the face of ten years of 600,000 acres burning and dying, ten thousand acres per year of "stewardship" projects offered by S-1470 is almost irrelevant. Worse, what work goes on also emphasizes removing existing roads. What happens when the next forest is ready for harvest, or to burn, or gets sick?
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A LOCAL COLLABORATION, MOSTLY
The Other Green Group Behind Tester’s Wilderness Bill
Most of us have mistyped URLs, using .com instead of .net or .org instead of .gov. So, when you want to go to the website of the Montana Wood Productions Association, be sure to key in montanaforests.com. If you inadvertently type montanaforests.org, you go a promotional website for Senator Jon Tester's (D-MT) new Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009, S.1470.
Shortly after the website went up last month, I received a couple of emails claiming this was just another example of the heavy hand of the Campaign for America's Wilderness (CAW) had in crafting Tester's wilderness bill. And sure enough, it turns out the domain name was registered by David Chott, CAW online coordinator.
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GUEST COMMENTARY: THE FOREST JOBS AND RECREATION ACT
Tester’s Forest Bill: Where Local, State and National Interests Come Together
Two weeks ago, Senator Jon Tester introduced the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, an important bill that provides new direction to the Forest Service for logging and restoration forestry and which will designate 668,000 acres of wilderness across Montana. Because Senator Tester’s legislative proposal grew out of several collaborative initiatives, who in turn engaged the support of an extraordinarily broad cross-section of Montana conservation organizations, timber mills, local governments, labor unions, and individuals, it is worth once again considering how this hard work and broad support came together and how it will ultimately lead to the legislation’s passage. [more]
