Coalition takes big steps at meeting

The Sanders-Mineral Counties National Forest Stakeholders Coalition held its latest meeting last Tuesday in the basement of First Security Bank in Plains. At the meeting the coalition passed its bylaws, discussed the future of the group and officially adopted their first two projects.

“I think we're finally on the right track and moving forward,” said Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker. “It's very exciting.”

It took the first part of the meeting to pass the bylaws after the group discussed minor changes in wording. Later in the meeting, the coalition voted to adopt the Cedar-Thom project that has been an ongoing work-in-process in the Superior Ranger District. Sharon Sweeney of the Superior Ranger District has been spearheading the efforts for Cedar-Thom, which encompasses the area between the Cedar Creek drainage and the Thompson Creek drainage. Sweeney has said the project would include watershed improvement and cleaning up the roads.

The second project was proposed by Ed Thompson of Thompson Falls, who recommended the coalition adopt the project of looking into Eddy Mountain as a possible site for receiving television signal in the future. The peak is on national forest land and would require some development, but Thompson thought it would not be a difficult project for the coalition to have a hand in so he said it would be a perfect one to start out on. There was concern about members of the coalition that the project would lead to facets of national forest work that the coalition wouldn't want to go, but the motion passed and the project was accepted.

Also in the meeting, the coalition members discussed the future of the group's make-up. An idea was on the floor to break up and hold different meetings for each county so that the cost of travel would be cut down. The coalition voted to continue their make-up as one solid group with smaller committees and teams. Many members of the group argued they stay together for the sake of having a diverse array of people.

Brooker said the coalition formed about one year ago after some people saw that it was working in other areas, such as in Libby and many in Idaho. She said the main idea behind the coalition is to bring a wide range of stakeholders to the table to communicate on issues regarding the Lolo and Kootenai National Forests.

“We want to gather up a diverse group of people so we can try to avoid litigation,” Brooker said. “We're trying to bring all parties to the table so we can they can agree on things and find middle ground.”

Brooker said whenever the Forest Service attempts to move forward with a project or a plan, different groups will often bring lawsuits against them to halt the process. Brooker said that the whole idea of the coalition is to bring those different sides together where they can find a compromise so the issue doesn't end up in court.

Brooker said that's where the diversity comes in. She said there are people involved in the coalition on both extremes regarding forest management, and many that are somewhere in the middle.

Brooker said elected officials often take the reigns as motivator and organizers for coalitions like this and she has tried to keep a neutral position within the coalition, though she still has voting rights as a member. Susan Sutherland, from the Montana Resource, Conservation and Development office out of Libby has been acting as facilitator for the coalition meetings the last six months.

The role of the rangers from the local ranger districts is to serve as liaisons between the Forest Service and the coalition. The rangers have no voting authority, but will play an advisory role. The rangers will often be the ones who will come forward with project ideas and proposals for the coalition to consider.

The next step for the coalition is to select a board of officers and a seven-person committee has been charged with the task of coming up with suggestions as to who the board should be made up of. The committee is comprised of the six individuals from the group who also drafted the bylaws plus one more to give them an odd number.

The committee is made up of Brooker, Dieter Scholz, Ron Olfert, Roger Lund, Bill Nolan, Jim DeBree, and Sarah Lundstrum, who is a Wilderness Campaign manager for the Montana Wilderness Association. Brooker said the committee of seven will be meeting soon but a date has not been set yet.

The rangers involved in the coalition are Sweeney from the Superior Ranger District, Randy Hojem from the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District, and Julie Molzahn from the Cabinet Ranger District in Trout Creek. Brooker said both Hojem and Molzahn have project ideas that the coalition will probably be considering soon.

Brooker said the coalition decided to combine both Sanders and Mineral Counties so they could draw on more diversity. She said they are unique in that they combine, not only two counties but also two different forests. Brooker also said joining the coalition is not difficult but does require some commitment.

“It's for anybody that is interested in collaborating on forest issues,” Brooker said. She said people must come to two consecutive meetings before they are able to vote and the coalition has already held several meetings since its inception.

The next coalition meeting isn't until late June but there will be a public hearing regarding the Cedar-Thom project April 16 at the Superior Ranger District office. That meeting is open to the public and members of the stakeholders coalition are encouraged to attend.