Stoltze announces cutback at lumber mill

Blaming a recent court case that closed some state forest lands to logging, F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. announced Aug. 27 that it plans to partially curtail production at its lumber mill in Columbia Falls.

Stoltze announced that effective Sept. 29, sawmill production hours will be cut back from 80 hours per week to 60. Nine to 10 workers would be laid off as a result.

The company says an Aug. 21 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy that blocked plans to build new logging roads in the Stillwater State Forest north of Whitefish affected two logging contracts held by Stoltze.

“It is with extreme frustration that we announce this curtailment. At a time when lumber markets are rebounding, we are faced with having to reduce production due to lack of access to the raw material,” Stoltze vice president Chuck Roady said. “This is not a decision that has been made lightly. However, we feel it is in the best interest of our employees and company to be proactive in response to the continued constrained log supply in the region.”

Stoltze held two of six active timber sales on the Stillwater State Forest, Stoltze resource manager Paul McKenzie said. Harvesting on one sale will continue, but about 3.5 million of the 5 million board-feet Mystery Fish sale will not be harvested because of Molloy’s ruling.

Sonya Germann, at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said the Stillwater State Forest accounts for about 14 million board-feet of the annual yield of 57.6 million board-feet on state forests.

She said Molloy’s ruling will stop harvesting on 30-50 percent of six active timber sales totaling 12 million board-feet as well as 8 million to 9 million board-feet of sales planned for the next 3-5 years.

Molloy’s ruling came in a case filed in March 2013 by Earthjustice on behalf of the Friends of the Wild Swan, the Montana Environmental Information Center, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The conservation groups challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s approval of a 50-year “take” permit and associated habitat conservation plan that authorized increased road building and logging across 550,000 acres of state lands.

The state’s plan included elimination of the only unroaded grizzly bear habitat area remaining on state lands, a 36,700-acre block within the Stillwater State Forest. To minimize impacts to grizzly bears, state land managers had proposed imposing seasonal restrictions on road use and logging.

Molloy, however, concluded that FWS violated the Endangered Species Act because it lacked a rational scientific basis for its decision to approve new road-building in the Stillwater Core based on the state’s plan.

“The Service has not rationally justified its finding that the approach under the plan constitutes a complete offset — much less a net benefit — such that additional mitigation measures did not even need to be considered,” Molloy said in his ruling. “Absent independent investigation into the impracticability of greater mitigation measures, the Service’s finding that the plan mitigates take of grizzly bears to the maximum extent practicable is arbitrary and capricious.”

The ruling drew praise from the conservation groups.

“Federal officials played fast and loose with the science,” Earthjustice attorney Timothy Preso. “Fortunately, we have courts in this country that require federal officials to make rational decisions and follow the rule of law.”

“This is incredibly important to grizzly bears on the Stillwater State Forest,” Friends of the Wild Swan program director Arlene Montgomery said. “Bears don’t use calendars to know when an area is safe to raise their young and avoid conflicts with people. The court’s ruling ensures that bears get a fair shake.”

The ruling did not sit well with Stoltze officials.

“For many years we have talked about the urgency in needing to address active management of our forests,” Stoltze resource manager Paul McKenzie said. “As a forester, it is disheartening to be surrounded by highly productive forests that could benefit from active management, yet still not have access to sufficient log supply to meet the production needs of our sawmill.”