Gary Carlson Outlines Timber Harvest/Thinning Challenges
Our speaker on Tuesday, July 25, 2017, was Gary Carlson. Gary spoke from the perspective of being a rancher on his family operation near Bernice, Montana (between Helena and Butte.) More specifically, Gary outlined a situation in which the U.S. Forest Service, landowners and other stakeholders in the area have agreed to collaboration for a thinning/harvesting/fire mitigation project that has now commenced with an 18 month USFS environmental study. Part of Gary's explanation of the situation was that ranchers are good stewards of land and must be to survive over the long run, and such projects are not supported without a great deal of fore-thought and planning for the best results. He noted that litigation against such sales after conclusion of a USFS study is often driven by a few national not-for-profit entities who automatically file suit to stop such timber work without regard to merit of the project or the long-term best interest of the forest, landowners or surrounding communities.