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Increasing Timber Harvests to Protect Endangered Species?
Who are they kidding?
ACT NOW: Tell DNRC to protect habitat for threatened and endangered species, not destroy it.
The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is at it again. This time they are proposing to INCREASE the timber harvest on state school trust lands for the next 50 years in order to protect threatened and endangered species. The obvious question is how will threatened species like the grizzly bear, Canada lynx, and bull trout benefit from more timber harvesting on school trust lands?
The answer — they won’t!
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 DNRC is seeking public input on its draft Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)
An HCP is a plan that is supposed to guarantee the long-term survival of threatened and endangered species. DNRC’s plan seems to make an existing problem even worse by allowing increased harvesting in critical habitat necessary to ensure the survival of these species in Western Montana.
To gather public input, DNRC is hosting three open houses across the State to allow the public to ask questions and learn more about its proposed plan. Some of the most obvious questions they should be asked are:
- How can DNRC continue to ignore the impacts of climate change when it is already having an impact on wildlife habitat?
- How can it protect dwindling species by destroying more of their habitat?
- How can building more roads protect grizzly bears?
- How can buffers that only prohibit harvesting within 25 feet of streams protect threatened and endangered fish like bull trout?
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If you live in the area, please attend one of the following open houses:
Kalispell: July 20, 2-8 pm
Flathead Valley Community College
Arts and Technology Building, Room 139
Helena: July 22, 2-8 pm
Best Western Great Northern Hotel
835 Great Northern Boulevard
Missoula: July 23, 2-8 pm
DoubleTree Hotel
100 Madison St., Blackfeet Room
Although these open houses are 6 hours long, we encourage people to attend between 4—6 PM to gain the benefit of other conservationists questions and DNRC’s responses.
Because public comments are not due until September 24th we will mail you a reminder notice to submit comments closer to the due date. We will provide more technical analysis of the proposed HCP at that time.
To review the HCP go to DNRC’s web site: http://dnrc.mt.gov/HCP/draft.asp
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Banner photos (l-r) by Yellowstone Natl. Park (also image of Grizzly cubs below), Maine DIFW, and USFWS