The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is providing close to one million dollars in state funding to Forest Service projects in Montana, to increase the pace and scale of efforts to improve forest health and watershed health. State investments will be made in Forest Service projects in each National Forest in Montana, funding thirteen projects in eleven counties.
“Rather than promote the transfer of federal lands to the states, I believe we should help federal agencies succeed in managing lands under their jurisdiction,” said Governor Steve Bullock. “Growing the state-federal partnership is vital to meeting forest health challenges and the needs of our state’s rural communities. I’m pleased that through these project investments we are able to increase the impact of citizen collaboration on federal lands and increase the pace of forest restoration.”
This effort is a part of Montana’s Forests in Focus Initiative, and the funding comes from the state’s wildfire suppression account. Pursuant to legislation passed in the 2013 Legislative session, up to $5 million may be used every two years for fuels reduction, mitigation, forest restoration and purchase of fire equipment.
“We see our assistance in accelerating restoration on federal lands as an investment in forest management across ownerships” says John Tubbs, DNRC Director. “Wildfire and insect and disease outbreaks don’t stop at boundary lines. Federal lands in Montana make up over half of our state’s forested landscape — investing in them matters.”
Tubbs emphasized that these investments not only improve forest health, but will provide timber for the state’s forest industry, which is essential to managing federal, state, and private forest lands, and vital to many rural Montana communities.
From the Montana DNRC: https://dnrc.mt.gov/news/governor-bullock-forest-health-and-restoration-are-good-investments