At One Year Anniversary of Bitterroot Settlement Conservation Groups Reveal Only Small Fraction of Restoration Work Completed

MISSOULA, MONTANA. Today, conservation groups that reached a highly publicized settlement with the U.S. Forest Service and timber industry on the Bitterroot National Forests controversial Burned Area Recovery Plan revealed that a year after the settlement less than 3% of the watershed and road restoration work has been completed.

In fact, needed restoration work on the Bitterroot National Forest may never be completed because $25.5 million appropriated for restoration on the Bitterroot has been used to cover costs associated with the 2002 wildfires. This reality stands in stark contrast to repeated statements from Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and other Forest Service officials that restoration was the agencys top priority as it engaged in legal maneuverings to circumvent the public appeals process.

"While the Forest Service repeatedly touted restoration as the top priority of the Burned Area Recovery Plan, we continually pointed out that the Forest Service was using restoration as a smokescreen to push through a massive commercial logging project," said Larry Campbell with Friends of the Bitterroot. "A year into the project and its clear that this recovery plan is nothing but an old fashioned timber sale where you cut the big trees and run from restoration. Trust in the Forest Service has been burned on the Bitterroot. Once burned, twice shy is a reality that will haunt any future attempts to negotiate with the Forest Service."

"The Forest Services commitment to watershed restoration and road rehabilitation was a keystone for the entire compromise. By failing in this obligation, the Forest Service jeopardizes the goodwill of all parties, and undermines the factual basis for the settlement agreement," explained Dr. Chris Frissell, Senior Staff Scientist for The Pacific Rivers Council.

"In field evaluations of the small percentage of the restoration work that has been completed by the Bitterroot National Forest, weve found some that isnt up to acceptable standards," said Dr. Frissell. "Sloppy or wrongheaded restoration work can do more damage than good. Delays not only add up to additional years of damage to water quality, fish, and other aquatic life, they also limit the ability of the Forest Service to monitor the projects and make the necessary adjustments so that they benefit rather than further harm the resource."

"The Forest Service promised over and over again to the people of Montana and the nation to restore the burned areas of the Bitterroot National Forest. They broke that promise," Jennifer Ferenstein, President of the Sierra Club. "If the Forest Service truly believed that restoration and recovery was job #1 on the Bitterroot, why is most of the logging already completed while the vast majority of the restoration work is on hold and may never be finished? How can we trust the Forest Service to do whats best for our public lands when, even in a very high profile project like the Bitterroot, the logging gets done while the restoration work never happens?"

Bitterroot Settlement: One Year Anniversary Fact Sheet

On February 7, 2002 the U.S. Forest Service, timber industry and conservation groups signed a Settlement regarding the Bitterroot National Forests Burned Area Recovery Plan (BAR).

The Forest Service touted restoration as a top priority of their BAR plan from the very beginning. Conservation groups repeatedly pointed out that the Forest Service was using restoration as a smokescreen to push through a massive commercial logging project.

Once the Forest Service began exploring ways to circumvent the public appeals process, Forest Service officials including Chief Dale Bosworth and Bitterroot Supervisor Rodd Richardson continued to tell the public that legal maneuverings were warranted so needed restoration efforts could move forward.

• "The ultimate goal of this for us, the professionals who deal with land management issues everyday, is to get out on the ground and do the restoration work that so badly needs to be done." Ellen Davis, Forest Service spokeswoman (Ravalli Republic, Nov. 28, 2001)
• "It's imperative that we move forward with the project to help restore the land and prevent further environmental degradation." Dale Bosworth, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (New York Times, December 9, 2001)
• "The most important thing to me is getting on with the restoration work. There's lots of other work we wanted to do roads we wanted to obliterate, watershed work, reforestation. The idea of the whole project was fire restoration." Dale Bosworth, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Missoulian, January 9, 2002)
• "My intention all along has been simple: To move forward with those parts of the projects that we need to do this winter, so that by the end of 2002 we have maximized the amount of restoration work that we have done on the ground." Rodd Richardson, Supervisor, Bitterroot National Forest (Missoulian, February 5, 2002)
• "All along we have felt that restoring the resources and communities of the Bitterroot was the primary concern. We are extremely satisfied that restoration activities will proceed." Kathy McAllister, Deputy Forester, USFS Region One (United Press International, February 8, 2002)

This is a good time to take a look at what has happened on the ground on the Bitterroot National Forest in the year since the Settlement was reached. Despite Forest Service TALK of restoration, how much restoration ACTION has actually occurred?

RESTORATION ACTIVITIES: According to the Bitterroot National Forests own documents:

• Best Management Practices (BMPs) upgrades have occurred on 13 of 500 miles (3%). BMP upgrades are modifications of an existing roads surface and drainage that improve its ability to handle traffic without large increases in sediment delivered to streams. Deferring this work means these roads continue to generate polluted runoff, and are highly vulnerable to damage from both log hauling and other traffic.
• Road obliteration has occurred on 1/2 mile of 45 miles (1%). Road obliteration means the road surface is restored to natural contours near drainage ways and culverts and other impediments to drainage are permanently removed, resulting in more natural patterns of runoff and sediment. Most roads slated for obliteration are of little use to management and are falling apart due to deferred maintenance. And any delay results in continued erosion and pollution of waters.
• Road storage has taken place on 3.2 of 102 miles (3%). Road storage means drainage is altered to more natural patterns, but crossing structures are not fully removed, and the road can be easily rebuilt for future use. This does not reduce erosion and other impacts as much as road obliteration, but the same issue holds deferring the work means continuing high levels of impact from problem roads.
• Stream Restoration: Only 1/3 mile of 16 miles completed (2%).
• Reforestation: Only 4,000 acres of 33,150 acres completed (12%).

BITTERROOT RESTORATION FUNDS USED ELSEWHERE:

In the Northern Region forests of Montana and northern Idaho, more than $60 million was transferred to the national firefighting effort; $25.5 million of that money was intended for the rehabilitation of forests burned in the Bitterroot Valley during the 2000 wildfire season. No one knows exactly when and if the funding will reappear, but according to one Forest Service official on the Bitterroot National Forest, "No matter what, we'll have a year and a half's worth of work to do. We'll have to re-stack the priorities. You can do the math. Everything isn't going to get done." (Missoulian, October 29, 2002)

WHILE NEEDED RESTORATION WAITS, COMMERCIAL LOGGING PUSHES FORWARD:

On the Bitterroot National Forest, deputy forest supervisor Spike Thompson has delayed restoration and replanting on some of the 300,000 acres burned two summers ago. Culvert replacements are on hold, as are road upgrades, weed control and some salvage logging. (Missoulian, October 29, 2002)

• According to the Forest Service, 70% of the commercial logging has been completed as of December 2, 2002. (Bitterroot National Forest response to Friends of the Bitterroot 12/02).
• "But the work in the Bitterroot is also emblematic of the controversy dogging the fire plan. The logging here is 10 miles from the nearest community at risk from wildfire. And the burned trees being salvaged are the largest, most commercially valuable ones, not the smaller ones that would likely ignite most easily in another fire." - 'U.S. Fire Policy Isn't Cutting It.' (Tom Kenworthy, USA Today, August 22, 2002)