Forest in Focus – Doing More than Restoration

OVANDO – The Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (BCCA) has been the recipient of two Forest in Focus (FIF) grants totally nearly $315,000. Of the 5,600 total acres within the BCCA core, 863 acres have been treated with FIF grants generating around 6,600 tons of saw logs and pulp.

The BCCA is located in the mid-reaches of the Blackfoot watershed near Ovando Mountain. It combines community forest ownership and management within the Core 5,609 acres with cooperative ecosystem management for multiple-use across public and private lands for 41,000 acres in the Blackfoot Watershed.

Established in 2005, the community vision for the BCCA is to develop a working landscape that balances ecological diversity with local economic sustainability for the future benefit of the Blackfoot watershed community. This strategy of management and collaboration is one of the earliest examples of a community forest in the nation.

BCCA Chair Ben Slaght said the main revenue stream for the BCCA maintenance and projects comes from timber sales, block management and grazing leases.

The Forest in Focus initiative was started in the 2013 legislative session. That authorized up to $5 million per biennium, or two-year period, for the state to request out of the fire suppression fund if it was above $20 million. The primary goal in the legislation was fuels reduction, forest restoration and stewardship treatments. The secondary goal was putting logs on trucks.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock made the initial request from the federal government in late 2014. The first Forest in Focus grant was for $2 million. Montana received another $2 million following the second request. And the state is anticipating a third grant for $1.5 million. They have given $2 million total to US Forest Service projects.

"What's exciting is getting treatments out on lands that normally don't get treated. This includes projects in the wildland urban interface but the emphasis is on projects that are basically unaffordable and lands that really need treatment," said DNRC Program Manager Roger Ziesak.

In addition to funding projects on nine of the 11 National Forests in the state, there have been 24 projects on private, state and tribal lands with the Forest in Focus grants. Projects range from Lincoln County to south of Miles City with the vast majority of the projects on private lands. Ziesak said these projects have sustained approximately 160 direct jobs.

The proposals must meet the current voluntary best management practices and follow the streamside management zone laws. "We know that we are getting good forestry out there because of that," said Ziesak

The main goals for the projects on the BCCA were to bring the forest back into balance and make the forest more resilient to fire, insects and disease. Projects were designed to shift species composition away from the Douglas fir and instead favoring ponderosa pine and larch. Through mechanical treatments, projects mimic fire taking out the ladder fuels and implementing sustainable harvest. Large snags are left for wildlife and there is experimentation with how much dead and down fuels to leave on the forest floor. Projects manage for timber production in the future by creating an uneven aged stand.

"We keep the best of the best so in the future we will have really good genetics in here," said Blackfoot Challenge Land Steward Brad Weltzien. "We are trying to balance everything; it's not just timber ground, not just grazing ground and not just a wildlife area."

Ziesak estimates 7,500 acres have been treated, 7-18 million board feet of timber have been generated along with 30,000 pounds of pulp.

"The industry is hurting. That is one of the reasons this program was developed. What we are telling folks is give us projects that [they] can't afford to do without financial help," said Ziesak. "Log supply was a critical issue for the mills and the infrastructure. As far as the DNRC is concerned we need to have a timber industry in the state. If we can't supply them with logs, they are not going to hang around and wait."

Rich Lane purchases the logs for the Bonner Chip Plant. He feels the difference in the Forest in Focus grants, compared to other federal grants, is that it is Montanans' tax dollars at work.

"I think the Governor took a great leap of faith when he decided to tackle forest management in this state. This Forest in Focus program is one of the things that has been accomplished from it. Our [state] tax dollars go towards good forestry, not just logs to mills but to all the other good things it does like improve wildlife habitat, reduce fuel loading and stream restoration."

Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc. Resource Manager Gordy Sanders said Pyramid Mountain Lumber enjoys the opportunity to participate in the Forest in Focus projects.

"If there is the right work done on the ground for the right reasons, everyone benefits. It produces a better log for the remaining mills around the state at a price that we can afford to run during these depressed lumber markets," said Sanders. "The more work that [happens] on the ground, regardless of where it is, the more all the industry benefits across the state."

Ziesak said Montana used to produce 300-400 million board feet per year, now only 60 million board feet per year are produced. What grows in Montana is around 900 million to one billion feet which would be the annual allowable cut. Sanders added that amounts to 900-1,000 truckloads per day accumulating fiber on the ground.

"It's better to log that stuff than have it die and burn, I think," said Ziesak. "As far as the state is concerned it has been a real win, win for us. We get to have those treatments out there, we get to feed mills and we get to have people understand proper forest management."