Cedar Thom timber project moving forward

MINERAL COUNTY – A timber project nearly a decade in the making entered a new phase recently and while it’s the phase that involves possible objections to aspects of the project, supporters remain confident logging will return to Mineral County.

The Cedar Thom project, which could produce approximately 20 million board feet of lumber and take years to complete, moved into the objection process according to Montana State Extension Agent Kevin Chamberlain. He said, while there could be some issues raised about specific elements of the planned logging and forest management project, he does not expect them to prevent it from moving forward.

“This is the one point in the process where we can have an impact,” Chamberlain said. “This thing has gone on for so many years that a lot of things have changed.”

Chamberlain said one of the main things that has changed over the years was the need to use helicopters to log certain locations within the site. Since helicopter logging is no longer economically feasible due to the high cost of fuel, the estimated amount of board feet the site is expected to yield has been drastically reduced.

“There’s about 20 to 21 percent of the timber volume that we won’t be able to access,” Chamberlain said. “This is the time to speak up and be heard because we are going to live with the results for a long time.”

County Commissioners Roman Zylawy and Laurie Johnston said the operation was not only about logging and the benefit such an effort could have on the local economy. Zylawy said the Cedar Thom project was designed to enhance wildlife habitat and the overall health of the site in general in addition to yielding valuable timber products.

“It’s not just a logging job,” Zylawy said. “It’s about habitat and restoration. It does seem like the logging part of it keeps shrinking. We hope it goes forward with more harvesting and not less.”