From the Montana Forum, by Jennifer McKee
HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer told the Bush administration Tuesday that Montana values the more than 6 million acres of roadless federal lands in the state, but cannot afford to launch the analysis of the lands Bush has proposed.
Schweitzer said at a press conference the state needs roughly $9 million and 500 of the more than 2,300 Forest Service employees in Montana to get the job done. "That would be a good place to start," he said.
Schweitzer also sent a letter to President Bush Tuesday further outlining his feelings about the administration's plan for federal roadless areas unveiled in May. That plan would let governors decide what happens to the roadless areas in their states. Montana contains just under 6.4 million acres of designated roadless areas, excluding the state's federal wilderness areas.
Bush's plan gives governors 18 months to submit their ideas to the Forest Service on how the lands should be managed and whether they should remain in a semi-wild, roadless state. The plans may also require states to show how their proposed management plans would maintain wildlife habitat, reduce the risk of wildfire, ensure that citizens have access to private lands within the areas and other information, Forest Service information shows.
Governors are not required to submit their ideas. Decisions about roadless lands for which governors do not submit proposals rest with local national forests.
Writing and defending such a rule would cost the state money, Schweitzer said. And Montana doesn't have it.
He estimated that since Montana's roadless areas constitute about a quarter of the Forest Service land in the state, the state would need about a quarter of the agency's resources to adequately write a management plan. That's about $9 million and 500 employees.
Short of that, Schweitzer said, he's going to begin meeting with county commissioners around the state to see what they think ought to happen with the roadless lands. He expects to host a final conference in Helena of all commissioners to finalize their thoughts.
"We'll put something together," he said.
Schweitzer stressed in both his letter and at the press conference that roadless lands are important to Montana tourism, clean drinking water, hunting, grazing and hiking, and it doesn't make economic sense to build roads into them.
He also faulted the president for forcing states to again to assume what should be a federal responsibility.
"The Forest Service has been trying to resolve this issue for upwards of 30 years with little or no success," Schweitzer's letter to Bush read. "Now your administration, without the benefit of public hearings, has issued a final rule that asks the states to shoulder this burden both administratively and financially."
Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey said that while Schweitzer probably won't get the 500 Forest Service employees and $9 million he requested, Schweitzer's hopes of maintaining Montana's roadless areas will very likely come true.
"I think it's highly likely that we and the state will hammer out something that is mutually agreeable," Rey said.
Rey said other states have also asked for federal help in writing their proposals for roadless areas. However, he said the Bush administration's plan never envisioned governors preparing exhaustive and expensive management plans.
"Obviously, if the governor wants to produce something that detailed, we certainly wouldn't say no," Rey said. "It's not our intent nor is it specified in our regulations that governors have to do that."
He also said the administration's rule came in response to a Western Governors Association's resolution that requested more input on the fate of roadless areas.
"If we're passing any bucks here, they're bucks the governors have been asking for," Rey said.
Nonetheless, Rey said states will have to spend money on the proposals. The Forest Service pegs state costs from $10,000 to $25,000.
Rey said that while there's no money in the 2005 budget to help states pay for the plans, the 2006 federal budget currently under construction might contain money for governors.
Representatives for several outdoors groups said that while they applaud the governor's stance on preserving roadless areas, they hope more than just county commissioners will get to weigh in on the plan.
"I hope that over the next four months that he listens to all Montanans," said John Gatchell, conservation director for the Montana Wilderness Association.
