Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Don’t sweat small stuff
Posted Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 5:36 PM
I wasn’t sure what it was getting at, so I flipped to page eight. I found a piece dwelling on minuscule suggestions from the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act concerning sheep grazing and infrequent helicopter uses. What about the bigger picture?
The Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, which lead to the RARE (Roadless Area Review and Evaluation) process to recommend public lands for Wilderness designation. Following on the heels of RARE II starting in 1979, former Rep. Pat Williams worked to pass multiple wilderness bills for Montana, one of which was passed by both the House and Senate and then vetoed by President Reagan in 1988. This was the last time that a Montana wilderness bill was proposed by Congress. Twenty-one years ago!
In the past, Montanans have led the way with wildland protection. America’s first Wilderness was “The Bob” in our own backyard. “The Rattlesnake” was a model for community designated wilderness as well as cooperative multi-use areas. Now is the time for Montana to once again show the nation how it’s done!
Tester’s bill aims to work as a community collaborative. This bill truly reaches across the proverbial aisle designating large tracts of permanent wilderness, as well as releasing some areas (tied up in bureaucracy since RARE II) to timber harvest (creating important jobs), and designating funds from stewardship contracts back to much needed restoration projects.
“War of words” seems to imply that there is a fissure between the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act and environmentalists like myself. With support from conservation groups such as Trout Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation, the Montana Wilderness Association and the Wilderness Society, I beg to differ. If anything, this bill is a solution to many of the fissures that have kept Montanans from working together on public lands management for far too long. I fully support Tester’s efforts, and encourage other Missoulians to do the same.
Sarah Red-Laird, Missoula
Comments (1)
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Sarah, Apparently one of the nation's leading experts on natural resource policy and law is "sweating the 'small stuff'".
For those readers interested in a detailed analysis of Sen. Tester's bill (and not letters to the editor repeating over used talking points) I'd highly recommend they check out Dr. Martin Nie's piece at Headwaters News titled, "Questions, opportunities presented by Montana Sen. Jon Tester's Forest Jobs and Recreation Act."
It's available at: http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.ForestJobs…
It would certainly be nice if Sen. Tester and supporters of his bill would address these important questions, which have actually been asked (yet ignored) for months.
As Dr. Nie says in his conclusion, "The above questions are not driven by politics. Nor are they asked with the purpose of trying to defeat the Senator's bill or to criticize his courageous entry into Montana wilderness politics. They are meant instead to get the public thinking about the big picture and how the parts are going to fit or not fit together. The stakes are high. If the FJRA becomes law, place-based proposals throughout the West will take a big step forward. The FJRA would be the first one out of the gate, setting precedent for others, and this is reason enough why it must be scrutinized so carefully."
Thanks.
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