Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

MISSOULA, MT - Today the Native Forest Network is challenging the timber industry for publicizing grossly exaggerated job loss figures associated with the protection of Montana's wildlands.

Last February, the U.S. Forest Service announced a halt to roadbuilding on 33 million acres of roadless national forest lands, including 8.3 million acres in Montana, north Idaho and the Dakotas. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of that roadbuilding ban.

The timber industry had predicted the halting of roadbuilding into roadless areas would have dire consequences to Montana and result in massive job losses. A February, 1998 fact sheet distributed by the Intermountain Forest Industry Association in Missoula claimed that such a halt to roadbuilding would result in:

* "12,640 lost jobs."

* "No access to millions of acres of public lands."

* "Catastrophic wildfires that burn whole forests, kill wildlife, destroy watersheds, and threaten human lives and property."

"The timber industry has a long history of making exaggerated claims about job loss associated with the protection of Montana's wildlands," said Matthew Koehler of Missoula's Native Forest Network. "Given that the roadbuilding ban affected only 5 timber sales in Montana, and that the Forest Service intended to offset any impacts by offering additional sales, one must question the timber industry's exaggerated predictions even further."

"The people of Montana are sick and tired of hearing the timber industry claim that protecting Montana's remaining wildlands will somehow throw the economy into a tailspin, and lock people out of the forests," asserted Koehler. "Protecting Montana's wildlands will not lock them up; rather, it will free them from the shortsighted and irresponsible development pressures of the timber industry."

"By protecting Montana's roadless national forest lands, Montana will have the foundation for a strong economy in the 21st century," Koehler argued. "For proof, look no further than the communities throughout the west. Those that are flourishing are within close proximity to pristine wildlands."

Phil Knight of the Native Forest Network's Yellowstone office expounded on the value of Montana's roadless wildlands. "The Forest Service itself estimates that National Forest recreation, including bird watching, mountain biking, camping, hiking, hunting and fishing, generates over one hundred billion dollars annually. These activities often take place within roadless areas," said Knight. "Building roads and logging these pristine roadless areas negatively impacts many kinds of recreation, generating a net economic loss to Montana."

"With over 400,000 miles of roads currently within America's national forests, we don't need another inch of road," continued Knight. "Instead, we need to find ways to repair the damage done by a century of overzealous national forest roadbuilding - damage which has ruined many fine waterways, driven native fish species to the brink of extinction, allowed the clearcutting of millions of square miles of public forests, and cost us taxpayers billions of dollars."