Thursday, March 25, 2010
Congrats on collaboration
Posted Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 4:00 AM
My congratulations go out to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for taking the initiative to show his support for Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. With the increasing awareness of everyone’s need to cooperate and collaborate with each other along with my own support for the bill, I am pleased to see that these two prominent decision makers have reached a consensus with one another.
As a forestry student in Missoula studying operations and restoration, I am exposed to the economic reality and the need to reopen lumber mills. I am in complete support of wilderness and believe that this bill will be extremely effective at incorporating these two opposites. The bill is groundbreaking and well thought out through its use of post-project monitoring, yet like any bill it will take vast amounts of time and money to accomplish.
Like anything at the governmental level, it takes willingness to put oneself out there, and I’d like to thank Secretary Vilsack for coming to Montana to show his support for this great collaboration effort.
Chris Freistadt
Missoula
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
The concerns and questions of the USFS and the USDA merit close attention. It's a credit to Vilsack and the USDA that they've issued a clear commitment to work with Senator Tester to resolve concerns and to achieve the goals outlined in the legislation. Kudos to Senator Tester for bringing the head of the USDA to the state to visit with people who know these lands best. Kudos to Vilsack for supporting the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.
like
dislike
This is a major endorsement that a lot of people believed would never materialize. In fact, this eliminates a major argument that the opposition has been using since the hearings in December when Harris Sherman, the USDA’s Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, voiced major concerns of the FJRA. Vilsack isn't stepping on Sherman's concerns (he is Sherman's superior after all), he's saying that Tester has made some meaningful changes to the act and has demonstrated that there is increasing support for the bill in MT and Washington. Not only is this testament to the Act's robustness, but it demonstrates Tester's willingness to listen (something a lot politicians are not willing to do). Tester want's this bill to do as much good as possible, and I think he's proving that nicely.
I appreciate Sen. Jon Tester’s hard work to secure the support of the FJRA from a diverse group of interests including, most recently, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Responsible management of USFS lands can be achieved in a way that creates Montana jobs, improves forest health, and protects wildlands. As Chris points, Montana's lumber mills are part of the equation that allow forestry operations and restoration work to be accomplished on our federal lands.
Senator Tester, while listening to all sides and taking the best ideas and moving forward, is to be commended for his leadership in promoting forest industry Jobs while protecting Montana's most precious wildlands.
Tester's bill releases over a million acres of roadless wild lands to unsustainable, tax payer subsidized logging.
Twitter
Facebook
RSS