[Montana] Blakely works as a contractor for a small Missoula-based logging operation called Woodland Restoration Inc. On Monday, the crew is working on a project to thin about 50 acres of both private land and property owned by the National Wildlife Federation. “This isn’t old-time traditional logging,” he said. “It’s not about getting the cut out. Nearly all the people we work with are conservation-minded. They just want to do what’s best for their lands.” The average cost of thinning forestlands around the Missoula area is somewhere between $700 and $800 an acre, Arno said. In some cases – when the job is close to houses or far from mills – the price tag can run as high as $2,000 an acre. “On a larger-scale ecosystem type of thin, the costs are quite a bit less. It might cost $200 an acre.” “But one thing is for certain. If we don’t keep our milling infrastructure in this state, then all of this work is going to become so expensive that probably hardly any of it will get done,”

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org