<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Matthew,<br><br></div>Do you think any timber should be harvested from Forest Service lands? <br><br></div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 8:36 AM, Matthew Koehler via Missoula-Community-News <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:missoula-community-news@bigskynet.org" target="_blank">missoula-community-news@bigskynet.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><span class="m_-8778033685862087442gmail-first-paragraph" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span class="m_-8778033685862087442gmail-paragraph-0" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;line-height:15.0075px"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.006px">It's worth remembering that the Kootenai National Forest belongs equally to all Americans, not just a handful of local people in Montana. As you'll see below the Montana Wilderness Association and Yaak Valley Forest Council are part of a non-transparent, exclusive "collaborative" group that has apparently developed a legislative plan to triple industrial logging on the Kootenai National Forest by accessing the forest from different areas. If you care deeply about the future of America's public lands legacy this is yet another recent example of where some 'collaborative' groups in Montana are severely undermining that legacy. Please consider contacting Montana's congressional delegation and let them know you oppose these efforts to legislate huge increases in industrial logging on National Forests in Montana. Thanks.</span></font></p><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;line-height:15.0075px"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.006px"><br><b>Kootenai Stakeholders Coalition prepare for legislative campaign</b><br><br><a href="http://www.thewesternnews.com/news/kootenai-stakeholders-coalition-prepare-for-legislative-campaign/article_d15464f8-8fd7-11e6-805f-c798d6bb8bae.html" target="_blank">http://www.thewesternnews.com/<wbr>news/kootenai-stakeholders-<wbr>coalition-prepare-for-<wbr>legislative-campaign/article_<wbr>d15464f8-8fd7-11e6-805f-<wbr>c798d6bb8bae.html</a></span></font><br><br><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.006px">The Kootenai National Forest covers a vast majority of Lincoln County’s natural resources, recreation and wilderness areas. Lincoln County currently claims the second-highest unemployment rate in the state, </span></font><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.006px">prompting calls for the community to open up the forests for timber harvests</b><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.006px">. Others demand allocated wilderness areas, while another group maintains that </span></font><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.006px">snowmobiling remains a right on public land</b><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.006px">.</span></font></p></span></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.0024px"></span><span class="m_-8778033685862087442gmail-paragraph-1" style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif"><p style="font-size:12.0048px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;line-height:15.006px">About 10 years ago, a group formed to bring those interests to one conversation. After about a decade of developing collaborative goals between groups of different interests, <b>the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition is now working on getting those goals stamped with federal legislative approval.</b></p></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.0024px"></span><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">“Without implementation, or the ability to implement what we’ve been working on for the last seven years, it’s really just ink on paper,” said State Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, an associate at Environomics, a public relations group focused on connecting government affairs and timber management. “It’s everyone rolling up their sleeves, and saying there’s 2.2 million acres here; there’s something for everyone.”</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">The coalition formed in 2006, drawing from different groups whose interests include timber harvest, wilderness and recreation. During the last seven of those 10 years, the coalition has developed a list of guidelines that the organization says can enhance all three while hurdling the endless advance of environmental litigation in order to get Congressional approval.</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">Today, the coalition includes officials from lumber companies, Lincoln County,<b> Montana Wilderness Association, the Yaak Valley Forest Council</b>; even the Troy Snowmobile Club. Community members from Eureka, Troy, Libby, Columbia Falls and Thompson Falls make up the organization.</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif"><b>The current Forest Service plan expects that the Kootenai could produce around 40 million board feet of timber, but Vincent said the coalition’s plan could draw about 90-120 million board feet by accessing the forest from different areas.</b></p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">But before the process goes into legislative form, Vincent said the coalition needs public outreach to ensure that everyone’s concerns are heard before the bill is brought to Washington, D.C.</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">“We need a process that recognizes that there are excellent, diverse people working in a collaborative fashion with the agency that will manage the watershed for future generations,” he said. “As a Kootenai pilot project, we need all the communities supportive of that pilot. That’s what we’re beginning to do.”</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">Amy Robinson, northwest region field director for the Montana Wilderness Association and a member of the coalition, said the organization is currently scheduling a lineup of public open houses expected to begin sometime this month. The coalition’s website, <a href="http://kootenaifuture.org/" style="font-size:12.0048px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(69,125,157)" target="_blank">kootenaifuture.org</a>, went live a few weeks ago and outlines the goals developed during the last 10 years.</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">“We no longer want to fight old battles because there’s an amazing amount we already agree on,” Robinson said. “People really want to move forward in the community. That comes from a lot of different interest groups and leadership.”</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">Vincent said in order to best prepare for bringing the coalition’s plan to Congress, members of the community have to be on board with the coalition’s plan.</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">“We have to make sure we get those three legs of the stool attached firmly,” Vincent said. “We have a lot of work to do before prime time. But we’re getting close.”</p><p style="font-size:12.0036px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 18px;line-height:15.0045px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at <a href="mailto:slarson@dailyinterlake.com" style="font-size:12.0048px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(69,125,157)" target="_blank">slarson@dailyinterlake.com</a>.</p></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><span></span><br><span><a href="http://www.cottonwoodlaw.org" target="_blank"><img src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B8BXBsjEi27fWVlIbS11X2tocDg&revid=0B8BXBsjEi27fdHhkVDFwZHk5Q1JuRE1tWEE0QWl6d3FSNWRzPQ" height="83" width="200"></a></span><span><br></span><br><span><span><span>John Meyer<br>Executive Director & General Counsel <br>Cottonwood Environmental Law Center</span></span><br>P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771<br>John@Cottonwoodlaw.org<br><span>(406) 546-0149</span><br><br>The
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