Introduction: Objectionable Three Creeks Timber Project Goes to Phase II
It would be great to say our first land board publication of the new year brings our conservation readers nothing but good news about how our 5.2 million acres of school trust lands are being managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in conjunction with careful oversight by the five members of the Land Board.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Instead, we take a hard look at one of the largest and most controversial logging projects yet undertaken on state forests – the Three Creeks Timber Sale in the Swan River State Forest.
So complex and extensive in size is this project that it required a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement rather than a much simpler Environmental Assessment before it could even begin. Located in old growth and prime grizzly habitat, and capable of damaging the abundant and diverse wildlife as well as the threatened bulltrout and cutthroat trout fisheries within its border, it’s fair to say that this single project has been the focus of more interest and discussion by conservation groups and individuals than any logging project in recent years.
In February of 2007, conservationists believed they had succeeded in acquiring the kind of oversight and on-the-ground monitoring the massive project required when the Land Board specifically tasked DNRC to work closely with the conservation groups and concerned citizens, to review Phase 1 of the three phase project and make any adjustments required – including coming back before the Land Board for specific approval -- before moving on to Phase II and III.
But that’s not what happened. In December, the Land Board unanimously voted to approve Phase II despite the fact that Phase I had not even been started and that the promised on-the-ground field trips and monitoring had not been done. Even more dismaying, members of the Land Board then turned on the conservation representative present at the meeting and chastised the conservation groups involved for not making sure DNRC kept its promise and followed the directions the Land Board specifically gave the agency.
It’s a complex tale, but one that’s sure to raise the ire of those who hoped a new administration and Land Board would be more reliable in their commitment to the conservationists who helped put them in office. The message seems clear: It’s once again time for the conservation community to let their elected officials hear from them, to hold them accountable for a promise broken, and implore them to do the right thing and retract their Phase II approval until after the Phase I commitments are fully met.
After you read the article, we sincerely urge you to contact Governor Brian Schweitzer, Attorney General Mike McGrath, Secretary of State Brad Johnson, State Auditor John Morrison, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch and let them know you expect them and DNRC to keep their promises to the conservation community.
