Forestry experts warn Montana against following path of Southwest

New Mexico State Forester Butch Blazer would like to turn the clock back to a time when there were sawmills scattered across his sprawling state.

Two decades ago, there were close to 15 mills operating in New Mexico.

Then began the debate on how to manage the Mexican spotted owl and federal timber contracts came to a screaching halt. One by one, timber mills around the state started locking their gates and walking away.

Today there are two large sawmills remaining in New Mexico, both on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

At the same time, Blazer said, forests in his state are reeling from a century of successful fire suppression.

“Our forests in New Mexico are in pretty sad shape,” Blazer said. “The exclusion of fire over the last century has left us with forests that are overstocked. We now have a lot of catch-up to do.”

By PERRY BACKUS of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/17/news/mtregional/news06.txt

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