Missoulian Editorial Board
Monday, May 11, 2009

Last week, about 150 people attended an informative meeting in Missoula about the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project, essentially a legislative proposal that would guide the future of the upper Blackfoot Valley.

Much like the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership, the BCSP has brought together an array of local interests - including conservationists, private businesses and landowners - to hammer out a plan that has something in it for everyone. The plan, as currently envisioned, contains economic, recreational and conservation benefits, detailed in a three-part approach. The first part, which centers on stewardship contracting, would provide the Seeley Lake Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest with funding for 10 years so the district can afford the tools and manpower it would need to oversee restoration activities in the national forest and in the Blackfoot Community Conservation Area.

The second part would promote a $4.5 million public-private partnership with Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake to build a new biomass renewable energy facility. And the third part involves designating 87,000 acres of the Bob Marshall-Scapegoat and Mission Mountains as permanently protected wilderness, while also linking existing snowmobile trails in the area.

Supporters of the BCSP estimate its implementation would create 45 to 50 new jobs and more than $1 million a year in new wages, while also helping to stabilize the future of a small, family-owned sawmill in Seeley Lake.

The three-part plan is the result of discussions that guiding members of the project have been having for several years now. And over the years, as the BCSP has rolled into a more solid proposal, it has continued picking up more members and supporters - including the Missoula County Board of Commissioners, the Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation and the Montana Community Development Corporation, to name but a few.

You can add the Missoulian to this long list, too. However, we recognize that ultimately, what this project needs in order to become a reality is for as many Montana residents as possible to convey their support for the project to our congressional delegates, and urge them to shepherd the legislation through Congress.