Wilderness has been the flashpoint between environmentalists and the timber industry for 40 years. For most of those years, the timber industry wanted to run three shifts at the mill, the Forest Service wanted to meet unrealistic and destructive targets for board feet, and environmentalists wanted it all. What we got was gridlock, and winning was defined by preventing the other guys from getting what they wanted.
Things are different now. Maybe we had to go through that period, but new realities have now gotten everyone’s attention. Environmentalist court victories plus a tanking economy have sobered the timber industry, the Forest Service has a much more realistic view of what the land is capable of, lack of wilderness legislation has made environmentalists less strident and more willing to compromise, and a combination of impending climate change, fire and insects have made our forests much more at risk. Time for a new solution.
Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act is that kind of solution. It’s a win-win approach that uses the timber industry to achieve necessary management on the ground. At the same time, it puts wilderness designation back in the hands of Montanans - exactly where it was when Ronald Reagan politicized it to elect Conrad Burns. It’s an idea whose time has come. If we’re going to wisely manage our public lands and eventually solve problems the size of global warming, it’s time we started cooperating on smaller issues. This is a good place to start.
Pete Bengeyfield
Dillon