State, U.S. Forest Service use new agreement to target 400,000 acres of forest for management

Montana and the U.S. Forest Service announced last week they were moving ahead on a shared agreement between the two to do forestry work in large swathes of the state.

Last summer, the state and Forest Service signed an agreement formalizing closer cooperation between federal forest management operations and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. That came about two months after a Trump Administration executive order seeking to increase domestic timber production.

On Friday, Gov. Greg Gianforte, DNRC Director Amanda Kaster and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said that two large areas have been selected for state and federal work. The focus of the work will be on approximately 213,910 acres in the Flathead and Kootenai National Forests and 200,000 acres within the Bitterroot National Forest.

The project areas were selected due to wildfire risk and how close they are to being implemented.

“These are landscape scale commitments, which means that these places are where we are aligning planning, funding, staffing and authorities for sustained restoration and timber production,” Schultz said during the press conference. “This is how we move from projects to programs.”

Schultz also highlighted the work the Forest Service does through the “Good Neighbor Authority Program” which was part of the 2014 Farm Bill. 

This agreement supports the timber harvesting industry, including targeted logging, construction of fuel breaks and a variety of other activities directed toward reducing wildfire risk.

The money from the timber sales then gets directed back toward new forest restoration and management programs throughout the state.

Since the program began in Montana in 2016, about 234 million board feet of timber have been pulled from the state’s forests, Schultz said. The first initiative under the 2025 agreement will include the Good Neighbor Authority and is a project in Flathead National Forest called the Blacktail Powerline Project, which is looking to protect infrastructure.

“By coordinating our planning and resources, we’re going to be able to get more work done on the ground,” Gianforte said. “The reality is, we need more of these sorts of projects. Over 60% of our forests are at high risk of wildfire and disease. Keeping these landscapes healthy is critical to protecting our water supply, supporting our economy and preserving our Montana way of life.”

A body of research by the U.S. Forest Service has called for landscape-scale treatments of land, but the idea has mostly been studied more than implemented. That appears to be changing and some Montana politicians have called for this type of work, including House Speaker Brandon Ler.

Schultz said landscape-scale projects are no longer an “academic exercise” and said some Forest Action Plans (a guiding document each state creates to drive forest policy) have not been implemented.

“We are woefully short of implementing forest plans,” Schultz said. “We have a renewed commitment to implementing forest plans. And if we implement every forest plan around this country, we would go from selling about 3 billion board feet to about seven-and-a-half billion board feet, just if we implemented forest plans.”

Both large areas the U.S. Forest Service and DNRC plan to work on in Montana are of major concern, especially the Bitterroot Valley, which is considered at high risk for wildfire events.

“These landscapes represent exactly what we’re trying to achieve, nationally accelerated forest restoration, wildfire risk reduction at scale, expanded sustainable timber production, support for road mills and communities and healthier forests for future generations,” Schultz said during the press conference.

Kaster added the collaboration should make projects move faster.

“By aligning early with our federal and local partners, we can reduce duplication, streamline planning, and ensure that treatments are strategic and effective across ownership boundaries guided by the Montana forest action plan, we will track progress publicly and hold ourselves accountable for results,” Kaster said.

But not everyone believes the forests are too dense, including some researchers and advocacy organizations.

“Both of these projects will result in more knapweed filled clearcuts and less bull trout, big game, lynx, wolverines, and grizzly bears,” said Mike Garrity, the ​​executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “The federal government is required by law to work to recover species listed under the Endangered Species Act and the ecosystems upon which they depend. Instead the Forest Service and the state of Montana are working together to do the opposite.”