The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has been doing forest conservation in the Blackfoot and Seeley-Swan Valleys since the mid-1970s and when we heard the announcement of the Pyramid Mountain Lumber mill closure this spring, like for so many in the community, it was a gut punch.
Local Montana mills and all the contractors they support are a vital part of reaching our collective forest restoration and conservation goals, and we recognize that the economics of running a mill in Montana have gotten harder and harder. There has been nearly no change in the value of finished lumber in the past decade — with the exception of a spike during the pandemic — and costs have risen for nearly everything related to production — fuel, parts, labor, insurance, etc. However, the forests in Montana need the forest products industry now more than ever.
Our forests are in a tough spot. Management in the past 100 years often focused on removing large, fire-resistant trees. We also stopped using fire altogether as a management tool and instead solely focused on a century of fire suppression, which has resulted in our forests being choked full of small trees that create ladders of fuel for fire to consume the remaining large trees. This is not to mention that our changing climate is leading to hotter, drier summers increasing the threat of large-scale severe wildfires. While fire has always been a part of our forests, and can still play a restorative role, many of these fires are burning so large and so hot that forests are not growing back, causing habitat loss for many wildlife species.
With these pressing challenges, it’s more important than ever that we all work together to find solutions. TNC has been engaging with land management agencies, private landowners, contractors and conservation groups across Montana and the science is clear: thinning and prescribed burning together is the most effective way to restore many of our forests, especially the low-elevation forests around our communities.
To do that work effectively, we need an intact forest products industry. Having thriving, local mills is one of the most viable ways that we can afford to remove the small trees and other “fuel” that make wildfires so dangerous for people and nature. If we are going to be able to do forest restoration work, we need places to send the material to offset the costs of doing this work, as well as a workforce who is able to do the forest thinning so remaining trees have room to grow large and better withstand inevitable wildfires. Without the work of local loggers and mills, the cost of doing forest restoration projects becomes too expensive and we cannot work at a scale that meets the needs of the forests.
It may sound strange to some people to hear that the forest products industry is critical to supporting forest restoration and wildfire fuels reduction in Montana. It wasn’t that long ago that our forests were harvested primarily to serve the needs of the mills. For those of us who work in and around the forests in Montana, we know that a paradigm shift is afoot. We haven’t wholly solved the problem of aligning markets with the needs of the forests, but we are all collectively working towards having the mills support the needs of the forests.
TNC and partners, like the Blackfoot Challenge, the Clearwater Resource Council, the Bureau of Land Management, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Department of Natural Resource and Conservation, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, US Forest Service, neighboring landowners and others have worked to explore and support markets for small-diameter trees, include cutting small saw logs, making wood pulp, creating teepee poles, cutting firewood and providing material for biochar. We know these things are a step in the right direction but they haven’t been able to scale up enough to have the impact we need, so we are committed to working with innovative contractors, wood processing facilities and really anyone interested in helping to find ways to add market value to the wood we all know needs to come out of the forest.
Here at TNC, we know that the closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber will be a major challenge for the community. The forest products industry supports the small Montana communities that are woven in and around our forests, places like Seeley Lake. Without it, these communities are forever transformed and oftentimes cannot continue to exist in the way they have for generations.
The loggers and mill owners that we work with are incredibly hardworking, innovative and care deeply about the forest. TNC and partners could not do our conservation work without them. We all realize that the solution to this problem is not simple. The current challenges we face when it comes to forest restoration are too big for any one single agency, organization, or community to handle on their own.
Here at TNC, we have been committed to the forests and communities of western Montana for half a century and we will remain committed for the next 50 years and beyond. It will take all of us, working together, to keep Montana’s forests healthy so people and nature can thrive now and into the future.
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