Missoula Current
A governor’s advisory council has completed more than a year’s work on a collaborative forest plan for Montana, but council members are worried the new administration might ignore it.
On Thursday, the 21 members of the Forest Action Advisory Council voted unanimously to approve the final draft of their Forest Action Plan and send it to Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature.
They took that action a day after learning that Bullock planned to dedicate $4.5 million from the Montana fire suppression account to go to projects that can get the plan off the ground. That’s an increase over the $1.5 million that Bullock originally promised.
The addition of a $500,000 U.S. Forest Service grant means $5 million will be available to groups, agencies or local governments to put projects on the ground.