New Proposal Submitted for Wilderness Designation and Recreation Opportunities in Blackfoot Clearwater

SEELEY LAKE - The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP) Steering Committee recently updated their 2008 proposal addressing restoration and protection of the region's forests in a manner that promotes recreation opportunities, conservation interests and the local economy in the southwestern Crown of the Continent. Last week they submitted their 2015 proposal to Montana Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester and Representative Ryan Zinke in hopes of gaining their support.

In 2005, stakeholders, which included snowmobilers, wilderness advocates, outfitters, timber industry representatives and sportsmen came together and discussed their values and interests as part of an effort to find common ground about land management on the Seeley Lake Ranger District (SLRD) on the Lolo National Forest (LNF).

In 2008, the stakeholders forged an agreement to protect priority lands as wilderness, support forest management through restoration funding and support for a biomass plant and designate permanent recreation sites on the forest. The group coalesced into the BCSP.

During the past decade the collaborative partnership has successfully gotten its recommendations for the forest restoration implemented. This success includes:

• Developed and put forth the Southwestern Crown Collaborative (SWCC) proposal. The SWCC secured $52 million for forest restoration and resulted in the sale of 48.6 million board feet of wood products with 160 jobs being created and maintained per year.

• The SWCC project treated 120,000 acres of national forest lands, restored 105 miles of streams and rivers, improved 1,400 miles of recreational trails, reforested more than 11,000 acres and treated invasive and noxious weed species on 43,000 acres.

The biomass plant included in the 2008 proposal was eventually dropped due to economic considerations. The wilderness and recreation area designations included are still waiting for congressional action.

The BCSP revised its 2008 proposal in the spring and summer of 2015 to reflect the current on-the-ground conditions, new opportunities and the latest in strategies for sustainable, ecosystem-based forest management.

Member of the BCSP steering committee Addrien Marx became involved in the project when she was the president of the Seeley Lake Chamber of Commerce.

"The first I got involved with the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project was because of my involvement with the heart and soul of the community. I saw the outdoor opportunities, people who wanted to stay in the area and have a good job and I understand the need to preserve the community's personality as a timber town. By working together, we can have the win-win," said Marx. "The second reason is as a local business owner, it made sense to have diversity. By working together we can provide for the economics, jobs and opportunities we are all interested in."

Marx said that this proposal is intended to work within the scope of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The USFS has been a good partner in the process since the beginning. "A lot of times people don't respond properly [to the Forest Service's public comment periods]," said Marx. "This proposal allows us to become part of the working solution."

The 2015 proposal recommends:

Forest Restoration

• The LNF conduct a landscape assessment of restoration needs with the SLRD.

• The LNF develop a 10-year schedule of restoration projects within the Blackfoot-Clearwater watershed.

• Congress should address fire suppression costs and eliminate the practice of fire borrowing, where the Forest Service is forced to borrow from other portions of the budget (i.e. hazardous fuels reduction) to pay for increased suppression costs. They should consider increasing available funding for the preparation of decision documents for restoration projects.

• Congress and the LNF should meet with objectors in person or via video conference and apply the administrative and judicial review provisions of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to help collaboratively-develop national forest restoration projects with the SLRD. "Litigation is an issue and anyone who doesn't think that it is hasn't been sued," said retired SLRD District Ranger Tim Love. "This will help reduce some of the problem."

Conservation

• Designate 83,000 acres of Wilderness additions. This includes adding 40,072 acres at Monture Creek and 7,792 acres of the Grizzly Basin to the Bob Marshall Wilderness; 30,967 acres of the North Fork Blackfoot to the Scapegoat Wilderness and 4,460 acres of the West Fork Clearwater to the Mission Mountains Wilderness.

Recreation

• Establish the 1,859 acre Otatsy Recreation Management Area near Ovando to improve snowmobile recreation opportunities.

• The LNF should complete a study on opportunities to improve motorized and non-motorized recreation on the SLRD. The study will be used to recommend the implementation for the LNF and other partners.

"The vast majority of the land proposed as wilderness has been managed as wilderness," said Montana Wilderness Association Western Montana Field Director Zack Porter. "This proposal goes along with implementing the [LNF] forest plan. It offers tools [the Forest Service] needs to fully realize what they've laid out [in their plan]."

Committee member Lee Boman added that in 1986 the USFS recommended the proposed areas as wilderness. The difference is the way the lines were drawn on the map. The boundaries identified in the proposal took into account the various stakeholders' interests, values and suggestions.

"That's what we are trying to do here is take a long-standing tradition of how land in this valley has been traditionally used and codify it in such a way that in the generations to come they can still enjoy some of the open spaces that those of us who have lived and worked and recreated still enjoy," said Jack Rich, owner of Rich Ranch, a guest ranch that has been operational in the valley since 1958.

Committee Member and Seeley Lake Driftriders Snowmobile Club representative Steve Thompson is fully supportive of the proposal. He is excited about the proposed Otatsy Recreation Management Area saying it's really important to Ovando.

"This offers more snowmobile opportunities [since the area is currently closed to snowmobiles]. There are more opportunities for timber management. And it's good for the economy," said Thompson. "The proposed wilderness is already closed to snowmobiling so we aren't losing anything."

Thompson said the Otatsy area will be a great area for cross country riding, has areas of tough riding and is a beautiful spot. It would be accessed by the Lake Creek Trail which is not groomed and there are no plans to groom out that far. While the proposal said the area should be closed to motorized and mechanized use in the summer to avoid conflicts with pack-string traffic into the Scapegoat Wilderness, it is currently closed to these uses. "Everything will remain the same [for summer use restrictions]," said Thompson.

"A lot has been done [with the SWCC and the forest restoration work] and this just keeps that momentum going," said retired SLRD District Ranger and member of the steering committee Tim Love. "That's what this is all about, the good work that has been done and the vision for that work to continue and working with the Forest Service to get that work done."