Money to pay for fuels reduction
Timberland owners in Northwest Montana have an "unprecedented" opportunity for free fuels reduction work with federal stimulus funding being offered through the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
The department is accepting grant proposals through July 10 to award about $4.8 million in 13 Western Montana counties through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"The logging community is very much aware of the grants and is actively seeking project areas," said Rick Moore, a state service forester.
Landowners, however, are largely unaware of the program, Moore said.
The department has administered other types of fuel reduction grant programs. But those typically require landowners to provide matching funds or services in order to qualify for grants that partially pay for projects.
Not in this case.
"Something like this - fuels work at no cost - is just unheard-of," Moore said.
The priority of the grant program is to get logging contractors back to work.
"If it weren't for the recession, these guys would be taking logs to the mill every day," Moore said. "Because of the recession, the mills really aren't looking for logs."
The projects likely will generate marketable timber than eventually can be sold. But fuel reduction work typically targets dense stands of small-diameter trees in the vicinity of homes.
Moore said the program requires that logging contractors write the grant proposals with detailed prescriptions of the work to be done.
Landowners just need to be willing participants.
The proposals will be ranked on criteria such as the amount of land, the number
of homes that would benefit, the cost per acre, and the number of people that could potentially be put to work.
"If landowners can get together and work with their neighbors, it will carry the ball a long way," Moore said.
Some viable projects already have been identified for the program.
"There's got to be some more good projects out there that we're missing just because the landowners don't know about this," Moore said.
Moore is urging interested landowners to contact him for information on logging contractors who may be available to write grant proposals for their properties.
Moore can be reached at 751-2268, and more information on the program is available online at:
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com