Looking in on Collaborative Forest Restoration Program

A little more than a year ago a collaborative group was one of ten in the country to receive a federal grant for forest restoration in the Lincoln and Seeley Lake area. Beartooth NBC’s Ryan Whalen flew over that area to see how the first year of the program has gone and where it’s going.

In its first year, the southwestern crown has used the 1.3 million dollars awarded through the collaborative forest landscape restoration program. A large portion of the money went to preventing forest fire from devastating local communities.

"We have a lot of communities in this landscape that are at risk of fire,” says Megan Birzell of the Wilderness Society.

But it’s not the program’s only mission. It’s also improving water quality, decommissioning roads, removing noxious weeds and more.

This project has really become a group effort with dozens of different organizations getting involved. They've all offered their own little bit – anything from money, to resources and time.

"They really help us educate the communities about restoration and encourage private landowners to do their part on their land that will enhance the work that we're focusing on forest service land,” says Birzell.

Even Friday’s flight was a donation from non-profit conservation group Ecoflight.

"You can just see the continuousness and the contiguousness of the landscape. You can see all the values,” says Bruce Gordon of Ecoflight.

And the money’s not done rolling in. This is a ten year project leaving the group with lots of decisions to make.

"What were the historical condition? What is the condition that it's in now? What do we think it should look like,” says Birzell.

They say they’ll decide what is the best bang for their buck.

Story by Ryan Whalen, Beartooth NBC.
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