Forest Service

My good friend Jack Puckett turned 98 years old last month. He is such a great storyteller.

Fish, Wildlife & Parks is once again poised to log a portion of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area.

Jack Puckett is a good friend of mine, and as I mentioned back in 2018, a great storyteller. He turned 97 this year. Recently, Jack told more of his stories to the Missoula Senior Forum and I had a chance to record the presentation, from which I will share today.

Mike Bader writes, "Rules of the road? It’s hard to take the official Motor Vehicle Use Maps at face value if National Forests disregard it when it suits them. It has the same unpleasant odor of the Forest Service Holland Lake fiasco."

The Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service is using new authority and funding to propose logging projects across seven national forests in Montana and Idaho, but some see it as another way to shortcut public involvement.

The Lolo National Forest is proposing a large treatment project north of Seeley Lake, but a new federal process will limit public comment to initial scoping only.

Mike Garrity writes, "For decades the Forest Service has gotten away with calling hundreds, if not thousands, of roads on national forests “closed” when they’re not."

Holland Lake Lodge dates back to 1925, when the Forest Service issued a permit for a summer resort to include “a main building 40 by 60 feet in size, and a number of cabins for individual use,” according to press reports at the time.

Locals are pressuring the U.S. Forest Service to assign the responsibility of reviewing a Holland Lake Lodge permit to someone other than the Flathead National Forest supervisor.

U.S. Forest Service rules once protected large old-growth trees from timber projects. Recent court cases, including this latest one, have pushed back on changes to those rules.