If staged means that supporters showed up in droves to support a bold political move by our junior Senator, then I'm OK with a staged event. Of course Senator Tester planned the event methodically - this is politics, after all. But while the event may have been subdued, it provided an opportunity that most events of this kind never present: the chance to speak at length with either a staffer or the Senator himself about the legislation - something I took advantage of.

I'm proud of the fact that we're seeing things in Montana that "we never thought we'd see." After all, seeing the same thing year after year has only resulted in no new Wilderness designations in almost 30 years and rural economies that are on the brink. A better future for Montana's public land involves Wilderness and logging. It's about time we're seeing Wilderness advocates supporting timber jobs and timber mills supporting Wilderness. Saying that "we never thought we'd see" two camps come together (with more in common than they think) doesn't give enough credit to your readership or to Montanans in general.

Here's to Senator Tester for having the guts to lead Wilderness loving Missoulians as well as Montanans dependent on timber harvests down a new trail: one that leads to a better future for all of us.

For those readers interested in a detailed analysis of Sen. Tester's bill from one of the nation's leading experts on natural resource policy and law, I'd highly recommend they check out (the University of Montana's own) Dr. Martin Nie's piece 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 and concerns raised by Dr. Nie, which have actually been asked (yet ignored) for months. Instead of having an open and honest debate about Tester's Logging bill, we just get talking points, canned letters to the editor and dog-and-pony shows, such as the one in Missoula recently.

These dog-and-pony shows are not a replacement for the open, inclusive and transparent public processes that currently govern public lands management in this country, but that's sure how some people are acting. The simple fact that nobody was allowed to speak publicly at Tester's meeting, except for a rep of Roseburg Forest Products, who was allowed to address the entire crowd with a letter of support from timber industry workers (and a call for more public lands logging) proves the point about Tester's failed process and what a sham these "meetings" really are.

You see, Tester, his staff and supporters of his logging bill have no intention of really including the rest of the public in an open, inclusive and transparent process. After all, it's important for the public to understand the origins of the Beaverhead Partnership, whose misguided and unrealistic proposal makes up the bulk of Tester's Logging bill.

Back in the winter of 2005/2006, as most all of Montana's conservation groups were working together to protect all our remaining inventoried roadless lands in the state (nearly 6 million acres in total) unknown to any of us, a self-selected, exclusive subset of conservation groups (Montana Wilderness Association, National Wildlife Federation's Northern Rockies Natural Resource Center and Montana Trout Unlimited) began meeting in secret with the timber industry to craft a management plan for the entire Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest. We have even heard from sources from within these organization's that a confidentially agreement was signed between these 3 groups and the timber industry. Can you imagine it? A "confidentially agreement" signed between self-selected groups to dictate public lands management? Is this really the direction we want public lands management to take? Anyway, like I said, their proposal today forms the meat of Senator Tester's "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act,."

Hundreds of conservation groups in Montana, and around the country, who were not part of the MWA's, NWF's and MT TU's secret meetings felt betrayed, sucker punched and used. Can you imagine? At a time when we were all working together so well to protect all of Montana's remaining inventoried roadless lands (and when that goal was certainly in sight) three groups peeled off and met in secret with the timber industry to carve up roadless lands, mandate logging and violate NEPA? The outrage was pretty universal. In fact, most people don't realize that Montana Wilderness Association was immediately forced to return nearly $80,000 that it was given as fiscal sponsor to assist our Montana Roadless Working Group's education efforts the public during Bush's state-by-state roadless petition process.

Unfortunately, MWA, NWF and MT TU ignored all of the concerns expressed over the past 3 years from the vast majority of conservation organizations in the movement and have just pushed ahead with Senator Tester and his staffers (some of whom have a direct conflict of interest based on their past relationships with these groups and their leadership) with their no-holds-barred, leave-no-talking-point-behind PR campaign supporting Tester's "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act."

So, given such a context, are we really surprised that Tester and supporters of his Mandated Logging Bill gloss over and ignore concerns and questions such as:

Given that there are already upwords of 30,000 to 50,000 acres of logging and "thinning" work on National Forests in Montana just waiting to be cut, does it make any sense to have Congress mandate logging on public lands, especially at a time when lumber demand has plummeted 55%, the greatest drop in our nation's history. You see, decades of over-consumption and over-development have finally come home to roost (an important point that the anonymous "Walden" seems to miss). These timber mills don't need more logs, they need more customers.

Tester's Logging Bill allowing military helicopters to land in Wilderness for the first time ever. Do we really want to go down this path? What will the future of our Wilderness areas looks like?

Tester's bill releases Wilderness Study Areas that were set aside by Montana's late, great Senator Lee Metcalf? WWLMD? (What Would Lee Metcalf Do?)

The fact is that while the logging is Congressionally mandated in Tester's bill, the non-logging related restoration goals are not mandated, quantified, nor prescribed in as much detail. Make no mistake, there is no guarantee that the restoration work will be done once the logging is done. In fact, the USFS in MT and ID already have nearly $100 million of unfinished restoration work just piling up from previous Logging-to-pay-for-restoration-schemes.

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."

We can do better. We can do better than Tester's failed process and dog-and-pony-show public meetings. We can do better than Washington DC mandating logging on national forests in Montana. We can do better than allowing military helicopters to land in Wilderness. And we can do better than un-doing the legacy of Montana Senator Lee Metcalf. Thanks.