This year’s National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association’s annual meeting ended Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. On Voices of Montana, Mark Hayden was a guest. The General Manager at Missoula Electric Co-Op said the wildfire risk isn’t going away anytime soon.
Montana Looking Ahead To Upcoming Wildfire Season
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service recently announced a new 10-year plan to address what they are deeming a wildfire crisis through tree removal and prescribed burning. After last year’s wildfire season Governor Greg Gianforte says the state is already taking steps to improve Montana’s management efforts but is open to even ...
Impact Statement Released For Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service recently released the revised Helena–Lewis and Clark National Forest Land Management Plan and final environmental impact statement. The 2.9-million-acre forest is expected to drive management for the next 15 years. The plan recommends protections for 45 rivers or streams as wild and scenic wh...
BLM Digitize Easements Of Montana Land With Public Access
The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service have digitized easements identifying access routes to 450 tracts of public land including about 29,600 acres in Montana and Idaho that had previously been identified as landlocked. Efforts are also underway via legislation introduced in Congress. Both the House and Senate are considering the MA...
Funding for North Fork Road Maintenance Approved
After a year-long pushback due to funding issues, the a multijurisdictional maintenance project aimed at improving several miles of the North Fork Road is set to move forward, according to Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty. The U.S. Forest Service Committed $126,000, Glacier Park kicked in $15,000, the border patrol pledged $10...
Lawsuit Filed To Prevent Logging Project Near Red Lodge
A lawsuit has been filed to halt a Red Lodge-area logging project approved by the Forest Service this spring claiming it will be conducted in some of the best remaining wildlife habitat in the landscape. Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed the suit in District Court in Missoula Monday, the second suit they have fi...
Custer Gallatin National Forest Rescinds Fire Restrictions
The group Upper Missouri Waterkeeper petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency Monday, arguing Senate Bill 358 signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte runs counter to the agency’s authority to approve or disprove changes under the Clean Water Act and is a risk to the state’s waterways. It repeals numeric standards for nutrients, namely...