Ravalli County commissioners and staff on June 10 unveiled a draft Natural Resource Management Policy and opened a 30-day public comment period running through July 10.

The draft, described as an update to a 2012 policy, compiles resource assessments, management objectives and strategies the county plans to use when coordinating with state and federal agencies on land and resource issues.

Josh (consultant) of DJ&A, who led the presentation, said the draft and comment form are posted on the county website and summarized the plan'9s organization across seven resource categories, including recreation and tourism. He said the draft was informed by an earlier public meeting and a three-week survey.

Why it matters: Nearly three-quarters of the county is federal forest land; the board and members of the public said the NRMP will be an important tool when federal and state agencies revise plans that affect local land use, wildfire risk and recreational and working landscapes.

Public input at the meeting

- Mark Cook, CEO of Gulf of the Rockies (a local nonprofit), urged broad outreach and said his organization seeks coexistence measures for predators and alternative tools to trapping; he asked the county to publicize the comment link and suggested placing notices in the local newspaper.

- Margaret Gorski, co-chair of the Ravalli County Collaborative, praised the draft as an improvement over the 2012 document and urged county leaders to consider follow-up statistically valid survey work to strengthen the document'9s weight when used in federal planning processes.

- Skip Kowalski, a retired Forest Service officer, recommended the final document clearly explain how county policy relates to other legal and planning documents (for example, state subdivision and wildlife plans) so federal partners understand the county'9s role and authorities.

County process and next steps

County staff and the consultant said the draft will be available on the county website with a Microsoft form for comments; staff asked commenters to cite specific pages or paragraphs to improve the county'9s ability to incorporate suggested edits. The board encouraged written submissions and said they would consider public input for revisions.

Ending

The board closed the public meeting portion of the NRMP update, reiterated the July 10 comment deadline and encouraged organizations to provide written, line-referenced comments for the draft. No final adoption occurred at the June 10 meeting.