According to today’s Missoulian, Sen. Jon Tester’s office is being a little more forthcoming this week about the wilderness bill he intends to announce Friday. See our previous post for background information. Here’s the lede . . .
There may be more ideas than acres going into an anticipated wilderness bill under construction in Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s office.
And one of those ideas may be a new name.
“There are several major components to the overall legislation (jobs through new logging opportunities, recreational access, etc.), so calling it simply a ‘wilderness bill’ is a mischaracterization,” Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy said Monday. “I’d call it a forest jobs and stewardship bill.”
Tester’s staff has stated the bill would build upon the work of three environmentalist/industry collaboration efforts. The Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership outlined about 322,000 acres of wilderness in the national forest land that stretches between Helena and Monida. Another 87,000 acres are suggested in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project. And the Three Rivers Challenge in the Yaak designates 30,000 acres as wilderness.