Forest Jobs and Recreation Act

Neighbors working with neighbors across Montana

"Forest Jobs and Recreation Act" (S. 268): Jon Tester's keystone public lands bill would designate nearly 700,000 acres of Wilderness across the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Lolo and Kootenai national forests of Montana while requiring the Forest Service to mechanically treat at least 100,000 acres of timber. For reading the legislation and to become a citizen cosponsor, please go to http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/forestcosponsor.cfm. To see more details about the partners and the process, go to www.montanaforests.org.

The bill was revised in the summer of 2010 to extend timber harvest and forest restoration timelines from 10 years to 15 years, and provisions were added to try to prevent projects from being challenged in court. Wilderness areas were adjusted to avoid certain trails and guarantee access for ranchers.

Senator Tester, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had the bill inserted into a short-lived continuing resolution last December that died amid Republican opposition.

The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act maintains the support of the Obama administration, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, key environmental groups, timber mills, local loggers, and off-highway vehicle users.

In an April 8th, 2011 Op-Ed piece for The Western News, Senator Tester stated, “I recently told the U.S. Forest Service to not wait for passage of my bill to start putting folks to work. The Forest Service has the tools right now to accomplish some of our goals, like big restoration projects on the Kootenai with stewardship contracts. I’ve asked them to get moving.”

The Yaak Valley Forest Council has also responded to the Senator’s request by taking the initial steps toward the formation of the Yaak Wildlife Habitat Restoration Partnership. This partnership is modeled after our highly successful Headwaters Program and will focus efforts toward implementing some of the key components of the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. We are currently working with a team from the Three Rivers Ranger District, a local outfitter, and a couple of local loggers to locate and design terrestrial restoration projects on Federal Lands located in the Yaak.

In December of 2011, the bill was attached to the Senate Interior Appropriations bill. While that bill had majority support in the Senate, FJRA was unfortunately removed from the House's final version of the bill. Senator Tester has stated that Montana jobs are his top priority in 2012 and he will continue pushing forward to make FJRA a reality.

THREE RIVERS CHALLENGE
The portions of the Forest Jobs & Recreation Act that pertain to management on the Kootenai National Forest are the direct result of the Three Rivers Challenge.

The Three Rivers Challenge is the map of common ground that was created from the work of the Lincoln County Coalition – a diverse bipartisan citizens’ group comprised of loggers, mill owners, snowmobile and ATV riders, conservationists, hunters and anglers, wilderness advocates, educators, elected officials, outfitters and local businesses. We joined together in a collaborative attempt to promote forest health, sustainable landscape management and sustainable communities and forests; to revitalize the wood products industry and our local economy, to preserve recreation opportunities, both motorized and nonmotorized, and to protect certain backcountry areas in the Yaak. We mapped an area of common ground that we think can end the timber wars on the Three Rivers District and avert a potential war between motorized and nonmotorized recreation.

To further these goals we sought to develop, in partnership with the Three Rivers District of the Kootenai National Forest, the Three Rivers District Cooperative Stewardship Forest Study Area – a small experimental pilot project area - which would do the following:

Provide opportunities for treating small diameter overstocked fuels on certain lands beginning in the wildland urban interface closest to private property and working out reducing hazardous fuels that threaten human communities.
Make the overstocked fuels available for processing in area mills
Create jobs in restoration forestry activities – which can include forest thinning, stand improvements, road restoration, underburning, etc – for the purpose of enhancing watersheds and critical fish and wildlife habitat
Provide for the participation of diverse community stakeholders in conjunction with authorized Federal, State and local agencies, in planning how to best use forest land in Lincoln County.
Encourage meaningful, proactive and positive partnership with the Three Rivers District on the Kootenai National Forest
Create a special mediated appeals process for this pilot area that will encourage appeals resolution on the ground and not in the court room. Establish a Resource Advisory Committee for the pilot project area.
Designate Roderick Inventoried Roadless area as Wilderness
Make permanent existing snowmobile use in North West Peaks Scenic Area and portions of Buckhorn Ridge and Mt. Henry Inventoried Roadless areas.
Create a permanent non-motorized area in North West Peaks Inventoried Roadless area and backcountry recreation areas in portions of the Mt. Henry and Buckhorn Ridge Inventoried Roadless Areas.
Create the Three Rivers Community Recreation Working Group to seek resolution of potential motorized and non-motorized recreation conflicts.