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Thirty five years ago...

Thursday Oct. 12, 1989

Timber harvest down in ‘88

The total volume of timber harvested in Montana decreased in 1988 by 12.8% from the previous year.

Timber from all lands of all ownerships declined from 1,376,466,000 board feet in 1987 to 1,199,798,000 board feet in 1988. Timber harvest records for 1989 are not yet available.

In 1988, 50.7% (609,507,000 board feet) of the total Montana timber harvest volume was from private lands.

Montana’s 10 national forests provided 40.5% (486,033,000 board feet).

The remaining 8.8% of the 1988 harvest came from:

*Bureau of Indian Affairs (4.7%), 56,021,000 board feet.

*Bureau Of Land Management (0.6%), 7,710,000 board feet.

*State of Montana (3.5%), 41,527,000 board feet.

The total volume of timber harvested from all lands in Montana in 1988 (1.2 billion board feet) is equivalent to the timber required to build more than 109,000 average-size houses, assuming approximately 11,000 board feet of lumber per house.

Fuelwood harvested in Montana’s national forests in 1988 was down 8.2 million board feet from the previous year, 23.3%. It was the lowest fuelwood volume since 1982.

Twenty years ago...

Thursday Oct. 21, 2004

Elk season looking good for hunters

If it’s elk you’re after this hunting season, populations across Montana are looking good.

Elk hunters will even be able to take a cow or calf elk in some hunting districts, mostly located in southwestern Montana, with their regular elk hunting license.

Montana’s five-week general elk hunting season is set to open Oct. 24.

“Hunters will have opportunities to hunt antlerless elk that they haven’t had in decades, thanks to consecutive years of mild fall weather, and good elk populations,” said Gary Hammond, management bureau chief of Montana FWP Wildlife Division. In the past, hunters had to apply for an antlerless elk permit to bring home a cow elk.

When elk numbers exceed population objectives, as is the case now in some management units, FWP loosens up the hunting season regulations. On the other hand, when elk numbers drop below objective, managers hold a tighter rein on regulations to reduce the harvest and increase herd size.

Montana’s draft elk management plan, which is out for public comment through Nov. 8, proposes to incorporate an adaptive harvest management strategy for elk.

“The revisions to the original elk plan developed 12 years ago help to assure hunters that we won’t let elk numbers get too low and landowners are assured that we’ll work hard to knock numbers down if they get too high,” Hammond said.

Hammond said this season’s liberal hunting opportunities, particularly in the western half of the state, are intended to help reduce the number of elk, in some cases significantly.

“We are hoping the old timers are right and what we see in rain in the summer we’ll see as snow in winter,” Hammond said. “In areas where we have an overabundance of elk, a good harvest will be good for both the hunter and the elk that remain.”

Read this and more at: https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2004-10-21.pdf