Colville Forest objection meeting scheduled for April 24-26

Individuals or groups who filed objections to the draft Colville National Forest Plan will have a chance to meet with officials April 24-26 in Colville.

The 60-day objection period ended Nov. 6. Officials received about 20 objections, Forest Service spokesman Franklin Pemberton said.

Many of those objections dealt with the proposed designated wilderness in the forest plan. Some groups felt the 60,000 acres designated as recommended wilderness under the plan were too much, while others felt they were not enough.

On March 20, the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests management plan was withdrawn by the Forest Service after more than 300 organizations and individuals, representing a wide spectrum of outlooks on the best way to manage federal forests, filed specific objections to the plans, the Lewiston Tribune reported.

While that’s theoretically possible on the Colville Forest, Pemberton said it’s unlikely.

“We think we’re in a much different spot,” he said. “We’ve worked very closely with our county commissioners and members of the public.”

The objection meeting will be overseen by Allen Rowley, the Forest Service’s director of forest management based in Washington, D.C. Rowley graduated from the University of Idaho.