ST REGIS — Conservation leaders, logging operators, politicians, and members of the public met with Lolo National Forest leadership at the St. Regis Community Center on Tuesday to hear about the proposed action to revise the forest’s Land Management Plan.
The proposed action, which was released to the public earlier this month, revises the current land management plan to bring it up to modern standards.
The current plan was signed in 1986 and is required by law to be regularly updated. Once finished, the plan is expected to stay in place for 10 to 15 years.
Additionally, the USFS writes in the proposed action that, “Since the land management plan was approved, there have been changes in economic, social, and ecological conditions, new policies and priorities, and new information based on monitoring and scientific research.”
A land management plan generally serves to balance the needs of natural resource harvesting, recreation, and conservation.
It does this by defining specific boundaries where each of these actions can take place. When a specific proposal in the future is brought to Lolo National Forest, leaders will use the management plan when evaluating the project.
Forest Supervisor Carolyn Upton explains it this way in a letter published on February 1.
“The proposed action is essentially a preliminary draft land management plan. It describes the Lolo National Forest's distinctive roles and contributions within the broader landscape; provides forest-wide, geographic area, and management area desired conditions, goals, objectives, standards, guidelines, and suitabilities for a variety of uses; identifies lands that could be recommended to Congress for inclusion into the National Wilderness Preservation System; and identifies rivers eligible for inclusion into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system. It also identifies a conservation watershed network and priority watersheds for restoration. The results of the wilderness and wild and scenic rivers evaluations are provided for comment, as is the Preliminary Need to Change.”
Tuesday’s meeting in St. Regis mostly focused on how interested parties can submit public comments before the March 31, 2024, deadline.
Officials explained that all public comment must go through their web portal, and should be as specific as possible. People who do not submit comments before the deadline will not be eligible to object to the draft later in the process.
Although the deadline is in March, the public will not likely see a draft revision until next winter, with the final plan not becoming official until 2026.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 15tin the University of Montana Alice Lund Instructional Auditorium from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
If you’d like to read the proposed action and submit comments, you can go to the Lolo Plan Revision Web Hub.
