April 16, 200
For Immediate Release:
OVANDO, Mont. -- An economic analysis released today shows that the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP) would provide a variety of direct economic impacts annually to local communities and businesses; including 45-51 new jobs, increased small business income, and at least $1.2 million in new wages – while continuing long-term benefits to the region from healthier lands, cleaner water, better habitat, and continuing or improved recreation opportunities.
Two years in the making, BCSP is a collaborative effort that has received wide support from local and county officials, wood products industry representatives, outfitters, recreation groups, and conservationists. The project entails stewardship projects, community forestry, and a biomass project in Seeley Lake, as well as additions to the Bob Marshall-Scapegoat and Mission Mountain Wilderness areas totaling 87,000 acres.
“The Blackfoot Challenge supports community-based processes, like that used to craft the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project,” said Gary Burnett, Executive Director of the Blackfoot Challenge. “We feel that this project will have tremendous benefits to restore our forests and benefit the rural way of life in the Blackfoot through its balanced approach to the economy and conservation.”
The economic analysis provides information about the economic impacts of the BCSP on 206 business sectors, employment, small business income, and state and local tax revenues.
Summary of Findings:
•Approximately 45-51 full and part time jobs in each of the next ten year in such business sectors as sawmills, logging, forestry services, highway and street maintenance, construction, and wholesale trade, and at a cogeneration biomass facility in Seeley Lake, MT;
•Increased small business income of $325,000-$388,000 annually;
•Increased wages of $1.2-$1.4 million annually;
•Annual increase in final sales for western Montana businesses of $6.4-$7.5 million;
•Construction of the cogeneration plant would provide one-time benefits of 31 new short-term jobs, $270,000 million in small business income, $770,000 million in wages, and $7.5 million in sales;
•Continued long-term benefits to local communities and the region from healthier lands, cleaner water, better habitat, and continuing or improved recreation opportunities.
"The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Pilot Project provides the opportunity to fully implement the Forest Plan while doing the right thing on the ground for the right reasons producing multiple benefits to a wide variety of interests,” said Gordy Sanders, Resource Manager with Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake. “This public-private collaborative partnership delivers predictable outcomes and economic benefit to folks in rural communities, while improving forest health and ecological balance in a sustainable way."
BCSP builds on the same spirit of cooperative success as other local accomplishments such as the Blackfoot Challenge, the Forest Service’s work on the Seeley Lake Ranger District, and the efforts of the Montana Forest Restoration Committee. In addition, the proposal is entirely consistent with the existing Lolo National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan. The geographic area covers the 400,000-acre Seeley Lake Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest within the Blackfoot watershed as well as lands within the public-private 41,000-acre Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (BCCA).
“The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project is an excellent example of Montana's growing Restoration Economy,” said Monica Pokorny, State of Montana Restoration Coordinator. “This forest stewardship and restoration project engages community members from various backgrounds to work together on the common goal of restoring forests, while creating local jobs and stimulating the local economy. The report is unique because it demonstrates in dollars the potential economic impacts of the restorative work for the community. Montana's Restoration Program hopes to see more restoration projects like the BCSP because its demonstrates that, by working together, we can restore ecosystems, jobs and economic opportunities that are resilient in the face of existing environmental and social conditions.”
For each of the next ten years, BCSP would entail a $750,000 federal appropriations -- matched each year by $250,000 in private funds -- to allow for the planning, implementation, and monitoring of landscape stewardship projects on the Seeley Lake Ranger District and BCCA. Stewardship projects would address hazardous fuels reduction, habitat improvements, and stream restoration, as well as road and trail remediation and improvements to forest access and hunting on the Blackfoot. A one-time federal appropriation of $4.5 million -- matched by $2.5 million from Pyramid Mountain Lumber Company, Inc. -- would be used to construct a modern cogeneration plant burning sawmill byproducts and forest residues to generate electricity and process steam at the Pyramid site in Seeley Lake, Montana.
The economic analysis does not examine additional long-term benefits to local communities such as healthier lands following stewardship projects and continuing or improved recreation opportunities. Examples of these benefits might include reduced risk and cost of future fires, improved water quality, better fish and wildlife habitat, continued outfitting and winter recreation, and the likelihood that the biomass plan may reduce several types of air pollution.
“Supporters of BCSP believe that now is the time for the Project to move forward,” said Joe Kerkvliet, Forest Research Economist with the Wilderness Society and author of the study. “The strong local support, expertise, and history of local collaboration all are in place. Implementation of stewardship projects will have immediate economic impacts for Montanans, while serving as a model for future collaborative projects in Montana and across the country. The comprehensive support and the relative size of the project also make BCSP a perfect ‘test case’ and as a pilot for future efforts.”