Don't let timber just fade away
Inter Lake editorial
The closure of Plum Creek Timber Company's Ksanka sawmill on one level may seem like just another domino to fall in our staggering economy, but it is actually a profound loss on many levels.
Ksanka is the last mill standing in Montana's timber basket. How can it be that Lincoln County, of all places, will no longer have wood manufacturing facilities and jobs?
For decades the county's citizens have at least had the benefit of jobs coming from a forested landscape that is predominantly owned and managed by state and federal governments. But in the future, wood coming from Lincoln County's abundant forests will support jobs elsewhere.
The causes for the demise of wood products jobs are complicated and many: economic cycles, market competition, technological developments in harvesting and millwork, and at times, overharvesting.
For certain, shrinking federal timber sale programs, often as a result of environmental litigation, have played a part in the disappearance of timber jobs over time. And that is one area that causes great frustration.
Remember, no matter what, trees continue to grow, and the need for long-term forest management never goes away.
The loss of simple wood products know-how could prove difficult to recover, if Lincoln County goes for a couple of decades with no wood products facilities. After all, Lincoln County is not part of some national park whose environment must remain pristine forever. Rather, it is a county blessed with a renewable natural resource that has played a big role in the development not just of Montana, but of the country.
Great care must be taken, with political leaders pulling out all the stops, to ensure that the current trend does not continue with additional mill closures in the Flathead Valley and other parts of Montana.
We do not want to become like New Mexico, a state where wood products manufacturing has vanished and where timber sales go to support jobs in other states.
That can't be allowed to happen here.