During his recent visit to Montana, Secretary of Agriculture Tom
Vilsack praised Sen. Jon Tester's forest bill and expressed his support
for the legislation as a pilot project (see "etc.," March 11, 2010). As
a supporter of the bill I'm glad to see these two decision-makers reach
common ground.
The idea of Tester's bill as a pilot project makes a lot of sense to
me. The bill is groundbreaking because it advances new ideas for timber
harvest and restoration. I think they're good ideas, but they're also
new ideas and new ideas do require some trust. The bill has a clear and
finite time frame and it applies to well-defined forest areas here in
Montana. There is also built-in monitoring and assessment, necessary
features of any smart experiment. Change takes courage because we don't
know what it's going to look like when the dust settles.
Thanks to Secretary Vilsack for coming to Montana and honoring our
senator's vision for conservation and restoration on public lands.
Neva Larson
Lolo