Funding sought for roadless analysis
HELENA – The Bush administration expects Montana to undertake a huge amount of work on the issue of roadless lands and should provide staff to do the job, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Tuesday.
The Democratic governor sent President Bush a letter requesting federal personnel to help Montana analyze its roadless areas, because the state has neither the money nor the staff for the job. Schweitzer told reporters the administration’s expectations on the roadless issue are one more example of states receiving a federal mandate, but no money to fulfill it.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees U.S. Forest Service policy, said federal officials “will be pleased to work with Montana,” but Schweitzer appeared to overestimate the work.
Last month, the Bush administration moved to allow logging or other commercial activity on millions of roadless acres in the national forest system. States were given 18 months to voluntarily submit petitions to the Forest Service, showing why development should be prohibited or allowed. Montana has 6.3 million acres of roadless land, about two-thirds of it at issue in the debate.
Asked whether Montana will file a petition, Schweitzer said Tuesday, “We’ll put together some kind of plan.”
With the necessary research looming large, the Forest Service should make perhaps 500 members of its Montana staff — about one-fourth of the total employed here — available to help, he said. Rey said in a telephone interview that he took Schweitzer’s suggestion of 500 people to be “more a rhetorical point than a reality.”
Rey also said much of the information states need to prepare petitions already is in records, and states likely would have to spend only $25,000 to $100,000 on additional work. States were invited to participate in work leading up to federal rule making because that is what the Western Governors Association wanted, he said.
Regardless of how Montanans want roadless lands managed, the final say will come from Washington, D.C., Schweitzer said.
“The reality is, I can’t change the law,” Rey responded. “These are federal lands, therefore the decisions about what we do with them have to be federal rule making.”
Schweitzer said Montana’s federal lands with sustainable timber harvests already have roads, many existing roads need repair and he finds “no compelling reason” to build more.
Still, the governor said, he wants to hear the thoughts of commissioners from Montana counties affected by decisions on roadless lands. He intends to meet with the Lincoln County Commission next week in Libby. Bruce Vincent of Libby, who worked in the timber industry for years and has been outspoken on federal land-management issues, said Tuesday that Schweitzer “is right on target.”
John Gatchell of the Montana Wilderness Association said Schweitzer’s plan to meet with county commissioners is understandable. But roadless lands are significant for all Montanans, he said, and land-management analyses should take into account the needs and wishes of all.