Protecting The Right To A Clean & Healthful Environment With Better Forest Management

"Leaders must dramatically increase the pace and scale of active forest management or our right to a clean and healthy environment will continue to be put at risk."

Did you see my column in Lee Newspapers this week? It certainly caused quite a bit of controversy, but should it have? I’ll let you decide.

In my column, I discussed how it’s time for our leaders to prioritize active forest management to mitigate the growing threat of catastrophic fires and secure Montanans’ fundamental right to a clean and healthy environment.

We know the kind of forest management we need.
Historically, low-intensity wildfire has been a healthy part of forest ecosystems, but forests are not adapted to the extreme fires we see today. Poor human management in the 20th century has made forests overloaded with fuel. Active forest management using proactive techniques like mechanical thinning (logging) and prescribed burns to restore forest health is a proven strategy for mitigating the threat of catastrophic wildfires that is widely recognized by leaders in Congress, conservation groups, the Montana DNRC and the Forest Service.

Yet when leaders fail to address the barriers preventing more proactive forest management we all pay the price.

Catastrophic wildfires:

1. Threaten the Climate.
   The forests that our federal and state governments manage are sending hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere as they burn each year. In 2021 alone, wildfires in the U.S. emitted 227 million tons of CO2 and CO2 equivalents.

2. Threaten the quality of Montana’s environment.
   When combined with frequent drought and a changing climate, fires are getting bigger and more devastating — destroying fish and wildlife habitat and degrading critical watersheds.

3. Threaten the health of citizens.
   Prolonged smoke exposure has harmful cardiovascular and respiratory effects, and even increases the risk of death. Montanans routinely experience unhealthy or even hazardous levels of smoke during fire season, and it seems to be getting worse every year.

While Montana’s congressional delegation and Governor Gianforte have stepped up efforts to expand proactive forest management, there is still much to do. Leaders must dramatically increase the pace and scale of active forest management or our right to a clean and healthy environment will continue to be put at risk.

For Liberty,
Kendall Cotton

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