Forest doc draws 20,000 comments

The Flathead National Forest received about 20,000 comments on its proposed action for a new Forest Plan. More than 19,000 of those comments were form letters, urging the Forest to do more to conserve grizzly bears, or to expand wilderness areas of the Forest.

About 300 to 400 were original letters, noted Joe Krueger, Forest Plan revision team leader.

The wilderness letters advocate expanding the Jewel Basin, the Bob Marshall north to Bunker Creek and the Mission Mountain Wilderness to Sunset Ridge. The grizzly bear letters call for more road closures, claiming the Forest doesn't have enough funding to maintain the roads it has.

But even the form letters are considered substantive comments, Krueger noted, and the Forest will take them into account moving forward.

"It helps us shape the issues," he said. "Most people felt like we did a good job with the proposed action."

The proposed action was just a first step in creating a final plan. A draft environmental impact statement is on course to be released in January. That includes amending the Kootenai, Lolo, Helena and Lewis and Clark national forests to include a grizzly bear conservation management strategy.

Krueger said a team of seven staffers is working on the document, including two writers and editors.