Rural planning official speaks out
Missoula County's future: timber, tourism, or both?
Last May 14, the Missoulian featured coverage of the timber industry's Great Northwest Log Haul. Tucked innocently, but perhaps prophetically, into a sub-headline underneath this story was the notation to look on the following page for information for possible recreational opportunities on Lolo Peak.
Five months later on Oct. 14, Forest Service Chief F. Dale Robertson admitted that "fish, wildlife and recreation have not been as well funded as timber" by his agency and that in the future this shortfall must be "rounded out." While emphasizing that timber harvesting was not to be ignored, Robertson encouraged his employees at a National Recreational Area (NRA) Symposium in Sun Valley to compete with other units of the Forest Service for federal funding. Then, to the joy of those in attendance, he added: "We are going to work extremely hard to get more dollars for NRAs."
Missoula County residents are, as usual, caught in a national debate, this one between timber and recreation, between harvest and preservation. But we are also in a unique position to take advantage of the "rounding out" of federal funding efforts.
For timber interests we have a rebuilt mill in Bonner, a refinanced and upgraded pulp facility in Frenchtown, together with a number of smaller mills in Seeley Lake, Condon and other communities throughout the county. In addition, there are the "value added" timber firms such as log home manufacturers who supply housing not only in Montana, but to Hollywood and the Orient as well.
And for recreation? We have the Rattlesnake Recreation Area supplemented by (or supplemental to, depending on one's point of view) wilderness in the Rattlesnake, Missions, Bitterroots, Sapphires and Swan Range. Add the Blackfoot Recreation Corridor and several wildlife refuges plus local recreation sites supplied by the city, county and private concerns as well as the "multiple use" national forests with their skiing facilities, snowmobiling, off-road vehicle use and blue-ribbon fishing streams. We are hardly starved for recreation opportunities in Western Montana.
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Twenty years ago ...
Thursday Feb. 5, 2004
Snow Sculptures: Winterfest 2004
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https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2004-02-05.pdf
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