The Trump administration has started giving states more control to manage national forests within their borders. The first known agreement was signed in Montana earlier this summer.
The state and the U.S. Forest Service agreed to collaborate on landscape-scale projects for the next 20 years. They will start next year with a 200,000-acre site in northwest Montana.
The state of Montana and the Forest Service have worked together in the past to manage smaller sites for shorter periods. But some say the new agreement will allow states to do more on federal lands.
“It's going to allow us to really broaden what we've been working on to make a meaningful difference,” said Amanda Kaster, director of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
She added that forest management is especially important right now.
“We are in the midst of a forest health crisis,” Kaster said. “We have over 9 million high-risk acres in our state.”
Thanks to the new partnership, she said the state can better mitigate wildfire risk and disease in forests, along with expanding logging efforts and recreation.
Montana is committing to providing up to 100 million board feet of timber each year. This aligns with a Trump administration initiative to boost domestic timber supply by 25%.
“Our forest products industry is such an essential partner when it comes to managing our forests,” Kaster said. “We want to be able to have logs available so that their industry can continue to thrive.”
According to reporting from E&E News by Politico, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service recently said that the agency is signing up to 40 similar agreements with states and private partners.
“I see a different role for the states, maybe, going forward,” Chief Tom Shultz said at a forest policy conference, according to E&E News.
A Forest Service representative denied a Mountain West News Bureau request to provide more information about those partnerships.
Michael Pearlman, spokesperson for the Wyoming Governor’s Office, said the Cowboy State has yet to be added to the list.
Editor's note: The spelling of Amanda Kaster's name has been corrected.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada,cast KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
