Sen. Jon Tester defended his wilderness bill from criticism Wednesday that it was drafted in secret at the behest of a couple special interests.
Rather, Tester said during a meeting with The Standard editorial board that parties that were willing to compromise were included in the talks that helped shape his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.
"The door was open to everyone who wanted to negotiate," he said. "Some people didn't want to negotiate." Tester last month introduced the bill. The measure would designate more than 600,000 acres of wilderness areas, which is the highest measure of protection for public land and bars logging, mining and road building. The vast majority of the wilderness - more than 500,000 acres - is in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwest Montana.
But the bill also includes provisions to increase logging. It would mandate 7,000 acres a year be cut on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge in "stewardship" areas, which are meant to clear outbeetle-killed trees. Tester has said that work will be directed in lands near communities and homes that already have roads.
The bill mirrors a proposal for the forest by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership. The coalition of conservation and timber companies proposed the plan as a compromise that it said would protect backcountry areas while getting more mid-elevation forests that are choked with dying trees cleaned up to prevent catastrophic fires.
Tester said the partnership strategy that served as a template for the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act was a model that could be used throughout the West to solve decades of stalemate over forest management. He called the partnership "visionary," but added that his bill included a lot of changes from the partnership version based on input from numerous interests.
The bill has come under fire from environmental groups who don't like its set acreage for logging, as well as from some local officials who say it's simply a wilderness bill that doesn't guarantee any logging will take place.
But Tester said although nothing is "bulletproof" from lawsuits, the bill would set a precedent requiring forests to get cleaned up.
"We've got an act of Congress; we've got diverse interests working together," he said.
Tester also shot back at claims that the bill aims to circumvent environmental laws. He said all projects would comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a thorough analysis before any action.
The bill calls for large-scale, landscape reviews covering 50,000-acre stewardship areas. Tester said those studies would identify broad areas that need treatment to improve habitat.
"We're not going to cut it all," he said of the areas. "We're going to cut a very small area." And he said the bill would help out Montana's timber industry, which has struggled for years to have enough supply to feed its mills. Tester said although demand for timber is down with the slumping economy, that will turn around.
At the same time, those companies can help restore forests that are ravaged with beetle kill, Tester said. "They have the equipment," he said.
He said he's spoken with other western lawmakers, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and they, too, are dealing with high fire risk in developed areas. He's hoping to continue speaking with lawmakers before the bill comes up for a committee hearing this fall.
The senator also said environmental groups that are criticizing the bill as opening too much to logging haven't seen how fire-prone many areas are near communities. He called it a good compromise.
"You've got 2-3 million acres of forest; the Forest Service can find 7,000 acres to cut," he said. "There are some places that industry would tell you they can't log; there are also some places that should be set aside.
"This is a nice mix."
- Nick Gevock, nick.gevock@mtstandard.com