National Wildlife Federation-Northern Rockies
Missoula, MT
Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership
Project location: Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, MT
$25,000 2009-2010

In 2006, dissatisfaction with a draft forest plan for the Beaverhead-Deerloge NF led to conversations between local timber companies and leading conservation groups to forge a better blueprint for management of the BDNF. At 3.3 million acres, the BDNF is Montana’s largest national forest, with important habitat for elk, grizzlies, native trout, and other wildlife, as well as myriad recreational opportunities and a longstanding forest products industry.

The blueprint that emerged from this partnership called on the Montana congressional delegation to introduce legislation based on the BDP recommendations. Montana’s junior U.S. Senator Jon Tester is currently preparing legislation that expected to include components of the following benchmarks:

• Wilderness designation for approximately 570,000 acres of roadless lands across 16 units, more than double the BDNF recommendations in its latest forest plan;

• Directing the USFS to undertake two annual landscape-scale stewardship contracts that would include restoration objectives including road reclamation, habitat enhancement, and stream restoration.

• Prioritizing timber harvest in areas already accessed by the roaded base and in the urban/wildland interface.

Update:  On July 17, 2009, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act based on the framework established by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership. Senator Tester's bill includes proposed wilderness additions to the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex in north-central MT. and designations for roadless areas in the Yaak Valley region of NW Montana.  A hearing in the Senate was held December, 2009, setting the bill up for potential passage by the end of the 111th Congress in 2010.