Forest stakeholders ask county to back travel-management letter to Congress

Vaiya Eret, co-chair of the Big Beaverhead-Deer Lodge Working Group, told the commission the group seeks county endorsement of a letter to Montana’s congressional delegation asking for authorization and staffing to complete travel management planning on the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest, a federal process the working group says has been overdue since a 2005 federal mandate.

"Failure to complete it has big impacts on local governments and local citizens," Vaiya said, and asked that the county allow its name to be listed alongside other counties in a seven-county request. Vaiya said the group has briefed field representatives for U.S. senators and a congressman, and characterized their response as positive; she said six of the seven adjoining counties had approved the letter as of the prior week.

Commissioners asked practical questions: how much the congressional request would cost (Vaiya said she did not have a number and described the group’s ask as for authorization and staffing rather than direct funding) and whether counties should appoint representatives to attend working-group meetings. Commissioner Bodette volunteered that he would be willing to represent Anaconda-Deer Lodge County on the committee.

Vaiya described the travel plan as an inventory and regulatory framework for roads and trails (which roads are open, to which vehicles, season-of-use, and purposes) and said completing the plan would reduce uncertainty, improve public safety, and support local economies that rely on forest access. She said the largest forest in the state and multiple leadership and staffing turnovers have delayed completion and the working group wants counties to amplify local interest to Congress.

The commission did not vote on endorsing the letter during the meeting; Vaiya said the working group sought county support by listing the county’s name on the multi-county request rather than a funding contribution.