Zinke Calls For Timber Work

News Article

By Samuel Wilson
The day after a fast-growing fire forced the evacuation of Essex residents from their homes, Montana's lone congressman on Friday visited the fire team's camp at the West Glacier koa.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who is from Whitefish, connected Northwest Montana's multiple wildfires to his bill that would aim to increase harvest and fuel treatment on federal forests.

"This is completely avoidable," said Zinke, gesturing to the thick haze that has enveloped the region for the past week.

The Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015, of which he is a cosponsor, passed the House last month and Zinke said he has been pressuring the Senate to bring it up for consideration.

The bill would provide more flexibility to the U.S. Forest Service to thin vegetation as a means of reducing the risk of fast-spreading intense wildfires. The bill also would free up some federal emergency funds for firefighting efforts, which take up a large proportion of the agency's annual budget.

One of the more controversial measures in the bill also requires any group or individual suing the Forest Service over a project to post a bond equal to the amount that it would cost the agency to defend it, unless that group participated in a collaborative group to develop the project.

"While Montana is the leading state in collaborative efforts, we're also the leading state in lawsuits," he said. He pointed to the 2003 Robert Fire as an example of an areas where the Forest Service avoided salvage harvest for fear of litigation from conservation groups. A portion of the Robert Fire burned again in the 100-acre Glacier Rim Fire earlier this summer.

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