Experts to discuss Forest Service at UM

Throughout its 100 year history, the U.S. Forest Service has overcome obstacles ranging from housing booms demanding more timber to public outcry over logging, but its biggest challenges may lay ahead – including modernization.

“Challenges Facing the U.S. Forest Service: A Critical Review” will be held this Tuesday and Wednesday in the UC Theater. The event is sponsored by the University of Montana’s O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West with support from the Cinnabar Foundation.

Daniel Kemmis, an O’Connor Center senior fellow, said the purpose of the forum is to discuss and address the challenges facing the Forest Service as it enters its second century of service. UM is a perfect place for the forum, he added, due to the amount of interest here.

“The University of Montana attracts a large number of students interested in the outdoors, forestry and ecological studies,” Kemmis said. “This conference will present a good opportunity for students to see some of the nation’s most experienced and thoughtful practitioners of these studies.”

The speakers list for the symposium contains many experts in the fields of forestry and the environment, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, a former U.S. Forest Service chief and former U.S. congressman from Montana, Pat Williams.

Mitch Friedman, a conservation biologist and author who was named one of the “25 smartest people in Washington” by Washington Law and Politics Magazine, said that the biggest challenge facing the Forest Service will be updating the methods used by the organization.

“I think their biggest challenge to the agency is that it needs to be modernized,” said Friedman, who will give his speech Wednesday. “(The USFS needs) its staffing, budget, and other processes overhauled to advance the goal of forest restoration.”

Kemmis agreed with this notion, saying that society changes faster than large bureaucracies are capable of changing.

“Here in the Rocky Mountain West, we are seeing steady growth in population, putting more and more pressure on the public lands and creating new expectations about how they should be managed,” he said. “While the Forest Service is staffed by deeply committed professionals, they often find themselves caught in political and legal battles that make it almost impossible for those professionals to do their jobs.

“The challenge is to respond to the changes in society while maintaining professional standards of public land management.”

The forum begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. and continues 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Students with a valid Griz Card receive free admittance. For an agenda of the forum’s events, visit the UM Environmental Studies Web site.