October Wheeler forum focuses on national forests and Montana's wood products industry

10-04-01 Bozeman - The changing national administration's attitudes toward our national forests and the impact of those decisions on Montana's public forests and wood products industry is the focus of the next Burton K. Wheeler Center conference to be held Oct. 28-29 at the Holiday Inn-Parkside in Missoula.

"Rationalizing National Forest Policy:  What Can Montanans Do?" will bring national, state and local speakers together with conference participants to discuss future decisions policy makers may make regarding the utilization of federal timber. They will discuss consequences of those decisions  for the state's wood products industry, and  how Montanans can become involved in the forest management discussion.

The conference will feature several panels that will discuss the state's timber economy, what constitutes a healthy forest and collaborative management strategies that might be forged. The panelists and speakers will represent a range of industrial, environmental and governmental perspectives. Montana's U.S. Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R) and former Rep. Pat Williams (D) will provide the luncheon program.

Mark Rey, recently appointed Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, has been invited to be the keynote speaker on Sunday evening, Oct. 28, at 7:00 pm. Rey will speak on  "The Future of the Forests and Forests of the Future" and will be introduced by Jack Ward Thomas, former Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Rey's keynote lecture is free and open to the public.

There is a $10 lunch and materials fee for participants in the daylong main conference on Monday, Oct. 29, which runs from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Participants may make their own hotel reservations by calling the Holiday Inn-Parkside, (406) 721-8550 and ask for the block reserved for Wheeler Conference participants. 

Pre-registration for the conference is required by Oct. 24. Online registration is at www.montana.edu/wheeler. Participants may also contact the Wheeler Center office at  P.O. Box 170590, MSU, Bozeman, 59717, (406) 994-0336.

The Burton K. Wheeler Center, based at MSU in Bozeman, is a non-partisan, privately- funded public policy center dedicated to the discussion and eventual resolution of critical Montana issues.

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.

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