Forest products industry and local mills are a vital partner for forest restoration, conservation goals

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 — wit...