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Lincoln County Coalition unveils new kind of land-use plan
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
EUREKA - It's a good thing Marianne Roose has such a cramped office.
“If you have people sit around a smaller table,” she said, “they tend to be nicer to one another.”
And so a few years back, the Lincoln County commissioner offered up her tiny table to some folk not known for being overly nice to one another. There were loggers and environmentalists, snowmobilers and wilderness advocates - pretty much the whole spectrum when it comes to the wider West's nonstop land-use debate.
“And it was so wonderful, everything that came of that meeting,” Roose said.
Part of what's come from that meeting is a nascent plan that cobbles together logging with wilderness with economic development with community forestry, a proposal in which everyone gives, everyone takes “and, with any luck, we can begin to move forward finally.”
On Monday, the broad-based Lincoln County Coalition officially presented its ideas to representatives of Montana's congressional delegation, hoping, Roose said, to take the talks to the next level. If successful, she said, the plan will marry conservation values with jobs and development in a groundbreaking way, providing a creative template for transitioning timber towns throughout the West.
“It's still just a draft,” Roose cautioned, “but it's a very exciting draft.”
The draft calls for some wildland set-asides, havens for wilderness critters and nonmotorized getaways. It also calls for some “stewardship” forestry projects, logging with an eye toward forest health. And it provides for economic development grants to Lincoln County communities, as well as guaranteed access for snowmobilers and others who enjoy the woods astride machines. And, if the money comes through, it envisions locals buying up working woods, creating “community forests” where people can both play and work.
“This all didn't just happen overnight,” Roose said. “We've been working on it a long, long time.”
It's been hard, she said, “but we had to find a way to work together. The polarization and viciousness that's occurred can't continue. We have to get together.”
Conservative members of Congress have said recently that any Western wilderness bills will have to include an economic development element if they hope to succeed, and with nearly 80 percent of Lincoln County's land base managed by the Kootenai National Forest, it's particularly tough to separate jobs from the environment here in northwestern Montana.
“So we have to believe that we can protect the environment, and we can also create some jobs in the natural resource industry,” Roose said. “All we need is some balance.”
The plan presented Monday, she said, is big on balance.
It's been crafted with help from the Yaak Valley Forest Council, with input from T.I.M.B.E.R. (Totally Involved in Managing Better Economic Resources.) The Troy and Libby snowmobile clubs are on board, as are a number of environmental groups. All three commissioners are working on the plan, she said, and so are the mayors of Lincoln County's three cities. School officials have joined the coalition, as have economic development agencies and backcountry horseman outfits.
Each came to the table with a list of needs, Roose said, as well as an ear tuned to the needs of others. Together, she said, they've mapped a sizeable hunk of common ground.
There's places where snowmobilers don't play, and they're willing to leave those roadless. There's places where wilderness advocates don't expect silent solitude, and they're willing to share those spaces with ATVs.
Then there's acres in the wildland-urban interface - where woods meet hoods - where everyone agrees some timber thinning is a good idea. If Congress would give the Kootenai National Forest a decade or so of stewardship authority in that interface - perhaps across as many as 100,000 acres - then forests could be managed for wildfire reduction, as well as other goals, and logs could flow to mills.
All forest users get something, Roose said of the plan, without giving up too much. For now, the draft focuses on noncontroversial areas, spots where designating motorized or nonmotorized or logging really means maintaining the status quo. If not everyone wins everything they'd like, at least nobody loses.
But with the relationships forged during this process already creating new bonds of trust, Roose said, most agree they'll be cracking the tougher nuts in months to come. It's a bit like hitting singles after years of swinging big for homeruns - everyone expects to be back to the plate time and time again.
“The one thing we've done,” Roose said, “is we've all walked away with respect for one another. That's so important. We might not agree 100 percent on everything, but we can come back later and keep working on it.”
One thing all seem able to agree upon is the wisdom in creating a community forest program. East of Lincoln County, the Flathead Valley has provided a perfect example of what happens when big blocks of timber land are sold out of production, often into residential subdivision.
Working forests no longer work, and public access is cut off.
And so part of the coalition's plan includes finding money to buy up private - or perhaps even public - timberlands. Plum Creek Timber Co. lands are an obvious target for purchase, as the company sells thousands of acres into development every year.
“But one problem could be finding Plum Creek land that hasn't been logged to the maximum already,” Roose said. Her eye, she said, is on any available forest land for purchase, perhaps even federal forest land.
The county commission, she said, would be “willing to step up to the plate” and manage the community forest, hiring a professional manager to sell timber from the community's resource base.
It would maintain both an industry and public access, Roose said, and would provide local control over long-term resource availability. It could also fuel wood-for-schools programs and regional biomass projects.
“What I like about this process is all these different ideas coming from diverse elements all across the county,” Roose said. “We're really working together on this.”
Which could make it the most likely “wilderness” bill to come out of Montana for many, many years. It is, she said, something of a diversified managed fund, designed to repair the county's economic damage.
“The train is leaving the station,” Roose said. “My advice to people is you'd better get on board. The times have changed, and polarization hasn't worked. We're moving on, like it or not, and this is the beginning of something bigger.”
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
EUREKA - It's a good thing Marianne Roose has such a cramped office.
“If you have people sit around a smaller table,” she said, “they tend to be nicer to one another.”
And so a few years back, the Lincoln County commissioner offered up her tiny table to some folk not known for being overly nice to one another. There were loggers and environmentalists, snowmobilers and wilderness advocates - pretty much the whole spectrum when it comes to the wider West's nonstop land-use debate.
“And it was so wonderful, everything that came of that meeting,” Roose said.
Part of what's come from that meeting is a nascent plan that cobbles together logging with wilderness with economic development with community forestry, a proposal in which everyone gives, everyone takes “and, with any luck, we can begin to move forward finally.”
On Monday, the broad-based Lincoln County Coalition officially presented its ideas to representatives of Montana's congressional delegation, hoping, Roose said, to take the talks to the next level. If successful, she said, the plan will marry conservation values with jobs and development in a groundbreaking way, providing a creative template for transitioning timber towns throughout the West.
“It's still just a draft,” Roose cautioned, “but it's a very exciting draft.”
The draft calls for some wildland set-asides, havens for wilderness critters and nonmotorized getaways. It also calls for some “stewardship” forestry projects, logging with an eye toward forest health. And it provides for economic development grants to Lincoln County communities, as well as guaranteed access for snowmobilers and others who enjoy the woods astride machines. And, if the money comes through, it envisions locals buying up working woods, creating “community forests” where people can both play and work.
“This all didn't just happen overnight,” Roose said. “We've been working on it a long, long time.”
It's been hard, she said, “but we had to find a way to work together. The polarization and viciousness that's occurred can't continue. We have to get together.”
Conservative members of Congress have said recently that any Western wilderness bills will have to include an economic development element if they hope to succeed, and with nearly 80 percent of Lincoln County's land base managed by the Kootenai National Forest, it's particularly tough to separate jobs from the environment here in northwestern Montana.
“So we have to believe that we can protect the environment, and we can also create some jobs in the natural resource industry,” Roose said. “All we need is some balance.”
The plan presented Monday, she said, is big on balance.
It's been crafted with help from the Yaak Valley Forest Council, with input from T.I.M.B.E.R. (Totally Involved in Managing Better Economic Resources.) The Troy and Libby snowmobile clubs are on board, as are a number of environmental groups. All three commissioners are working on the plan, she said, and so are the mayors of Lincoln County's three cities. School officials have joined the coalition, as have economic development agencies and backcountry horseman outfits.
Each came to the table with a list of needs, Roose said, as well as an ear tuned to the needs of others. Together, she said, they've mapped a sizeable hunk of common ground.
There's places where snowmobilers don't play, and they're willing to leave those roadless. There's places where wilderness advocates don't expect silent solitude, and they're willing to share those spaces with ATVs.
Then there's acres in the wildland-urban interface - where woods meet hoods - where everyone agrees some timber thinning is a good idea. If Congress would give the Kootenai National Forest a decade or so of stewardship authority in that interface - perhaps across as many as 100,000 acres - then forests could be managed for wildfire reduction, as well as other goals, and logs could flow to mills.
All forest users get something, Roose said of the plan, without giving up too much. For now, the draft focuses on noncontroversial areas, spots where designating motorized or nonmotorized or logging really means maintaining the status quo. If not everyone wins everything they'd like, at least nobody loses.
But with the relationships forged during this process already creating new bonds of trust, Roose said, most agree they'll be cracking the tougher nuts in months to come. It's a bit like hitting singles after years of swinging big for homeruns - everyone expects to be back to the plate time and time again.
“The one thing we've done,” Roose said, “is we've all walked away with respect for one another. That's so important. We might not agree 100 percent on everything, but we can come back later and keep working on it.”
One thing all seem able to agree upon is the wisdom in creating a community forest program. East of Lincoln County, the Flathead Valley has provided a perfect example of what happens when big blocks of timber land are sold out of production, often into residential subdivision.
Working forests no longer work, and public access is cut off.
And so part of the coalition's plan includes finding money to buy up private - or perhaps even public - timberlands. Plum Creek Timber Co. lands are an obvious target for purchase, as the company sells thousands of acres into development every year.
“But one problem could be finding Plum Creek land that hasn't been logged to the maximum already,” Roose said. Her eye, she said, is on any available forest land for purchase, perhaps even federal forest land.
The county commission, she said, would be “willing to step up to the plate” and manage the community forest, hiring a professional manager to sell timber from the community's resource base.
It would maintain both an industry and public access, Roose said, and would provide local control over long-term resource availability. It could also fuel wood-for-schools programs and regional biomass projects.
“What I like about this process is all these different ideas coming from diverse elements all across the county,” Roose said. “We're really working together on this.”
Which could make it the most likely “wilderness” bill to come out of Montana for many, many years. It is, she said, something of a diversified managed fund, designed to repair the county's economic damage.
“The train is leaving the station,” Roose said. “My advice to people is you'd better get on board. The times have changed, and polarization hasn't worked. We're moving on, like it or not, and this is the beginning of something bigger.”
