[MCN] Senator Tester's 100% untrue statement about Forest Service management

[Matthew Koehler]

Hello,

Last night on Montana Public Radio and Yellowstone Public Radio there was a
story about Senator Tester and Senator Daines efforts to overturn a U.S.
Federal District Court ruling (which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court also refused to rehear the
case) that they don't like.

The Tester/Daines public lands logging bill (S.605) has been called "just
another cynical attack to weaken a key provision of the Endangered Species
Act" by the Center for Biological Diversity.

On statewide radio Senator Tester said this:

*“But Tester says a new forest management plan can take decades to write.
So in the meantime: ‘Everything stops," he says. "All the recreational
opportunities stop, the tree cuts stop, trail maintenance stops while they
redo this forest plan.’”* (SOURCE:
http://mtpr.org/post/daines-tester-trying-reverse-court-ruling-lynx-habitat)

The public must know that this statement from Senator Tester is 100% not
true and doesn't even contain an ounce of truth.

The truth is that all National Forests in Montana, and across America, are
required to go through a Forest Plan Revision process every 15 to 20 years.
At NO POINT during that Forest Plan Revision process does "Everything stop."


At NO point during the Forest Plan Revision process does "All the
recreational opportunities stop, the tree cuts stop, trail maintenance
stops while they redo this forest plan.”

I appreciate the fact that the reporter talked to someone at the Lewis and
Clark National Forest who said revising a forest plan doesn’t stop work.
But revising a forest management plan also doesn’t “hamper” it either, as
the Forest Service employee apparently claimed.

This isn't the first time Senator Tester has taken to Montana Public Radio
and Yellowstone Public Radio and demonstrated a complete lack of
understanding of National Forest Management.

In February 2015 Senator Tester said on Montana Public Radio:
"Unfortunately, every logging sale in Montana right now is under
litigation. Every one of them."

That statement was so entirely not true that the Washington Post's official
Fact-Checker (Glenn Kessler) investigated the statement and gave Senator
Tester "4 Pinocchios" for telling a whopper of a lie. See:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/
02/25/montana-senator-twice-gets-his-facts-wrong-on-
timber-sales-and-litigation/?utm_term=.5ad0cc6bdfb6

This time, Senator Jon Tester has just told Montana citizens on statewide
radio a huge lie about a very basic public lands management process.

Perhaps it was just a mistake, but regardless, Senator Tester’s statement
is 100%, entirely not true and his office should immediately issue a
correction so that Montana citizens don't go around thinking that every
time the U.S. Forest Service goes through a forest plan revision process
that “Everything stops. All the recreational opportunities stop, the tree
cuts stop, trail maintenance stops while they redo this forest plan.”

*PLEASE TAKE ACTION! *

Tell Senator Tester and Senator Daines that you oppose their attempts to
dramatically increase public lands logging by undermining wildlife
protection.

Senator Jon Tester
PHONE: (202) 224-2644
EMAIL: https://www.tester.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Steve Daines
PHONE: (202) 224-2651
EMAIL: https://www.daines.senate.gov/connect/email-steve
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