Conference to study economics of environmental reclamation

GREAT FALLS – Economic effects of environmental restoration will be examined at a conference next month in Billings.

The annual Billings Land Reclamation Symposium scheduled for June 4-7 will bring together scientists, economists, industry representatives, conservation groups and environmental agencies, and will examine restoration’s importance in the economy of the West. Gov. Brian Schweitzer will host a related Billings forum, June 8-9, on efforts to restore watersheds, forests and grasslands.

“I view this as the nexus of good business, job creation, community development and conservation,” Schweitzer said. “Taking care of our land is good business. We want to get it right, and I want to be proactive.”

At the end of the forum, Schweitzer will request a plan outlining long-term benefits of reclamation. He hopes for a list of recommendations on how best to help Montana communities and landowners take advantage of restoration opportunities.

Also in connection with the forum, state officials hope to develop a strategy for dealing with cuts in federal programs. The program that funds cleanup of abandoned mines is set to expire and the trust fund that paid for federal Superfund cleanups is gone, with taxpayers now picking up the bill.

Cleanup projects in Montana are creating jobs and adding to the economy, Schweitzer said. Millions are being spent restoring the Clark Fork River, for example. As mining, refining and railroading declined, Montana faced the remains of those industries and saw some benefits as the new environmental cleanup “industry” developed.

“There is money in them there hills and sometimes the money is there after the minerals have been taken out,” Schweitzer said. “There is money in restoration.”

Restoration and reclamation aren’t limited to cleaning up pollution left by industries, Tom Palmer of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks told the Great Falls Tribune.

Even the trail system along the Missouri River in Great Falls is, in part, a restorative project, Palmer said.

Since 1995, more than 400 projects have been funded with $7.2 million from the agency’s Future Fisheries Improvement Program and with more than $17 million in matching funds.

Consulting firms specializing in stream restoration, heavy equipment operators, metal-shop fabricators and farmers and ranchers are among the beneficiaries of projects, Palmer said.

“In a way, we’re seeking to show that re-establishing healthy living systems and natural infrastructure brings with it enormous benefits to communities, much in the same way highway appropriations are said to bring economic vitality to states and communities,” Palmer said.

State officials tried to estimate the effects of restoration and reclamation work on Montana’s economy and came up with no exact figures.

This is the 10th year for the symposium, which will be at the Billings Sheraton Hotel. The symposium attracts 400-450 people, said Dennis Neuman, director of the Reclamation Research Unit at Montana State University.

Activities this year will include presentation of about 115 technical papers. Tours will include a look at coal-bed methane development.