2014 Timber Tour: Predictability a constant struggle

Despite mud, cold and pouring rain, more than 75 people braved the elements to learn about the timber industry on Thursday. 

Participants on the Timber Tour sponsored by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce group ranged from retirees to legislators. They viewed two active forest management projects and visited Wild Montana Wood to discuss forest products and niche markets.  

The tour concentrated on an overview of forests and their purpose as well as what is being done to further their well-being.

The biggest challenge the timber industry faces, according to Paul McKenzie, is unpredictability. 

“The thing that our industry lacks is certainty,” said McKenzie, the Lands and Resource manager for F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. “That is and always has been the number one challenge we have to figure out how to overcome.” 

Because timber companies deal with living, breathing ecosystems for their livelihood, McKenzie said, the company never knows how each year is going to go. There is no set amount of timber that a forest will produce, and each year comes with challenges such as drought, fire and disease. 

One way the industry seeks to control this lack of stability is through harvesting timber from state school trust lands. 

The tour stopped at the Spencer Lake South Timber Sale west of U.S. 93 off KM Ranch Road. The sale area covers 1,040 acres, 685 of which can be harvested. 

Last December, trees were thinned, which was a matter of discussion for many locals who use the land for recreation. According to McKenzie, many people were worried that the thinning would ruin roads and forest lands  and make them unusable for the public. 

“We’re going to do forest management, but guess what? We’re still going to have a forest when we’re done that meets the needs of society,” he said. “The bottom line is that we want a forest when we’re done, too. That’s our job.”  

According to Dave Poukish, Service Forestry specialist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, thinning is required to keep the forest healthy and needs to be done every 12 to 15 years. Otherwise, the forest can become overgrown, which causes many trees to die from overcompetition and creates a hazard, easily susceptible to fire or disease. 

“When we thin, it allows the residual trees to grow better and stronger,” Poukish said. 

In the future, the state agency plans to create open spaces throughout the area that will allow new trees to grow.

The tour stopped at North Spencer Lake where the state agency recently widened a turn-off and added a parking area to the dirt road off Twin Bridges as a safety precaution. 

“This is a very popular area to people to come and bike or hike,” McKenzie said. “But it wasn’t safe for them to be pulling over along the busy road, or moving around next to traffic.” 

Montana mills produce most of the major wood building materials needed for home and commercial construction, including doors, flooring, window frames, and more. 

The state is home to more than 25 million acres of forested land that provided jobs to approximately 7,000 people in the forestry sector in 2013. The majority of these forestry jobs are concentrated in the western part of the state. 

This year marked the third anniversary of Montana Forest Products Week, which Kalispell celebrated with its yearly Timber Tour. The week gives the state a chance to recognize the forest products manufacturing sector, and its contribution to local and state economies. The week mirrors National Forest Products Week, established by Congress in 1960. 

Across the state, different cities participated in the week, with activities ranging from educational events for school children to learn about forest management and production to open houses and tours by forestry production companies.

Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.