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Boost Montana’s economy with nature, not natural resources

“We could sell every parcel of state land and log every tree on state lands, but we don’t … because we want to sustain Montana’s lands for future beneficial use … keeping Montana ‘Montana.’” Public Instruction Superintendent Denise Juneau

As someone dedicated to fighting for Montana’s natural legacy, I am compelled to call out this great state’s political “leaders” for their short-sighted lack of imagination. I was struck by two headlines in the Dec. 22 Missoulian: “Coal leases approved” and “Battling beetles.” In a recent letter to the editor, the University of Montana’s leading expert on beetles clearly made the case that logging will not stop beetle infestations unless and until we address global climate change. Clearly, our folksy governor either doesn’t get it or, worse, doesn’t care.

This also was apparent from the previous week’s news of yet another mill closing down here in Missoula, which elicited much doom and gloom. I feel great compassion for the displaced workers from the Bonner mill, Smurfit-Stone, and so many others who have predictably become casualties of the NAFTA trade war, unsustainable forestry, and the collapse of our equally unsustainable consumer economy. However, I am tired of politicians trying to prop up a dying industry with D.C.-mandated unsustainable logging, holding out false hopes about another “champion” suddenly riding into town to save the day, and lacking any ideas actually tailored to the realities of the world we now inhabit.

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/article_b602ca9a-f93f-11de-acdc-001cc4c002e0.html

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