The following public opinion article by Howie Wolke is in reference to the forest proposal actions, involving over 5 million acres, reported by John Adams. Critics decry lack of public input on forest proposal
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
by Howie Wolke
by Howie Wolke
As many of you know by now,
Governor Bullock's office recently convened a secretive
"collaborative" of 5 conference calls with handpicked
"conservationists" and representatives of the timber
industry. Former Montana Wilderness Association Executive Director
Tim Baker, now working for Bullock, helped to organize this. The
group selected over 5 million acres (!!!) of Montana national forest
to be logged for "restoration" purposes. These lands would
be exempt from normal NEPA environmental review under the provisions
of the recently enacted Farm Bill.
Of course, any areas proposed
for logging even under the streamlined Farm Bill guidelines, are
still subject to existing environmental laws and lawsuits. But the
guidelines reduce opportunities for public input and increase the
likelihood that damaging timber sales will sail through. In many
cases, lawsuits will be the only option.
Aside from the
obvious scientific folly (logging is NOT restoration), these
"conservation" groups have egregiously undercut the efforts
of other conservationists who are working to protect many of these
lands. To me, this is unconscionable. Although most of the lands
selected for fast-track logging are outside of inventoried roadless
areas, some are within un-inventoried roadless areas. Other selected
areas are environmentally sensitive for various reasons. For example,
the selected lands include plenty of old growth, and also large areas
that have already been severely over-cut. Moreover, the entire
program is based upon the false supposition that logging remote
terrain helps to control wildfire and that beetle-killed trees need
to logged to “restore” the forest. In other words, science be
damned, full speed ahead.
Secret meetings like this
that utilize public funding appear to be illegal in Montana, and
fortunately, there are some good conservation colleagues of ours
taking this "collaborative" to task. But these groups have
already done much damage by equating logging with restoration in the
eyes of the public. Although I really don't want to give any more of
my energy to the follies of groups like GYC, it is important to make
sure folks understand the serious depravity of what's happened. This
is yet another example of a very long list of instances in which the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition -- and a handful of other groups -- has
actually worked against conservation and against the efforts of
smaller grassroots groups with considerable less funding.
It's
also why I think blind loyalty to the Montana Democratic Party is
misplaced, but that's another subject. Suffice it to say that in my
opinion groups such as GYC and Montana Trout Unlimited are
conservation groups in name only. But it is probably fair to say that
they are in fact cheerleaders for the Democratic Party, no matter how
poorly the Democratic politicians behave.
In the past, I’ve argued
against going public with the obvious philosophical rift in the
conservation movement. But no more. With the exception of a small
number of people in their organization who still try to do the right
thing, GYC nowadays does more harm than good. It’s time to stop
pretending that these problems simply reflect strategic differences
within the conservation movement and to expose these organizations
for what they really are.
Howie
Wolke
Howie Wolke is a founding member of Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness, the Vice President of Wilderness Watch, and a co-owner of Big Wild Adventures, though in this essay he is speaking for himself.
Some suggested wilderness and habitat advocacy groups in this issue are: click links below
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