Flathead National Forests' initial proposal to not review potential environmental impacts is raising questions about how forest managers decide which projects deserve a closer study.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana grilled the chief of the U.S. Forest Service last week about its initial decision since reversed to give an expansion plan at Holland Lake Lodge an exemption from a thorough environmental review.
Forests regenerate on their own naturally, sometimes through wildfire. In 1929, the Half Moon fire burned more than 100,000 acres in the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park, leaving the woods around Coram and Lake Five scorched black.
Montana s senior senator, a Democrat, zeroed in on the Flathead National Forest s intent to shepherd a massive expansion to the historic Condon-area lodge via a categorical exclusion.