SEELEY LAKE – Governor Steve Bullock launched the National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative in his capacity as Chair of the Western Governors' Association (WGA) at Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc. Tuesday, Aug. 16. The work of the initiative will position western governors to recommend and promote congressional efforts to improve forest management and encourage more effective collaboration throughout the West.
"We have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep workers in our forests, put more logs on trucks, and protect the public land and clean air and water that keep our heritage and economies strong," said Gov. Bullock. "Bringing all stakeholders to the table, we will work together to find effective solutions to responsibly manage the health of our forests, and continue to drive resource and recreation economies that benefit Montana and other western states."
Governor Bullock was seated as Chair of the Western Governors' Association in June. The Western Governors' Association represents the Governors of 19 Western states and three U.S.-flag islands. The association is an instrument of the Governors for bipartisan policy development, information exchange and collective action on issues of critical importance to the Western United States.
Bullock said one of the reasons for the WGA coming together around this initiative is because the work has not been getting done at the congressional level.
"We can't wait for Washington, D.C. when it comes to forest health. But I do hope as we do look at best practices around the state, as we look at different ways that individual states and state programs work with the Forest Service and their respective regions and states that will help form what western governors can bring to the table to help Congress through this log jam."
The National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative will examine existing forest management programs to determine their strengths and weaknesses; create a mechanism for states and land managers to share best practices, case studies and policy options for forest and rangeland management; and perform a detailed investigation of collaborative forest landscape restoration and responsible land management.
Gov. Bullock said with more than 75 percent of national forest and rangeland located in western states and nearly 600 million acres of land, Western Governors are deeply invested in their effective management.
"Given that the forest products industry provided more than 200,000 jobs and generated $62 billion combined in payroll and related economic activity, we recognize the real impact this has on our citizens," said Gov. Bullock.
"There are no one-size-fits-all remedies [when multiple stakeholders are presented with unique challenges]. In each of these cases the winner has to be the landscape," said Pyramid's Chief of Operations Loren Rose. "None of us can expect to get everything we want but we must agree that the outcome must be the best for the landscape. We applaud Gov. Bullock for making this his priority and we encourage the WGA to stand with our governor to bring more balance to federal land management decisions."
The initiative will focus on management tools available to mitigate fire danger and promote healthy forests and rangelands, especially those authorized under the 2014 Farm Bill. Among the tools to be examined: stewardship contracting, good neighbor authority, and insect and disease designations.
"It is far past time to change the way fire funding and fire borrowing occurs with almost 50 percent of the U.S. Forest Service's budget being spent on firefighting instead of actually working these landscapes," said Gov. Bullock. He continued saying that WGA has already come together on this issue and has seen a bipartisan move in Congress.
The initiative will conduct an investigation of forest collaboratives to determine why some are more effective than others. A potential deliverable is a model paradigm for a successful collaboration.
WGA will host a series of five initiative workshops throughout the western U.S. The first will be held Sept. 20-21 in Missoula, Mont. followed by workshops in Idaho and South Dakota. A full listing can be found on WGA's website. There will also be webinars, surveys and other resources, which will be publicly available on the website as well.
The information collected and recommendations produced by the initiative will inform future WGA policy on National Forest and Rangeland Management.
Ovando rancher and Chair of the Blackfoot Challenge Jim Stone commended Governor Bullock for his initiative and encouraged the communities of the west to "neighbor up and go to work."
"You can have the best ideas about how to manage timber or ag. But it's this new idea that we actually talk to each other, have respect and respectful conversation," said Stone. "It works and it's worked here for the past 20 years."
Gov. Bullock acknowledged that collaboration is not always easy.
"In something as contentious as forest management, there are going to be folks always on the outside and in many areas that will certainly not all necessarily be on board," said Gov. Bullock. "We need to figure out different ways to reward those efforts when collaboratives are coming together to move those projects forward."
Gov. Bullock said that as the chair of WGA, he choose the initiative this year. However, the rest of the governors are excited because the vast majority of federal lands are in the west and it is an issue of significant importance.
"The hallmark with the WGA is when we are working together we are working together in a bipartisan way," said Gov. Bullock. "We find ways where a very diverse group are practical leaders and find ways to get things done."
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