Gallatin Forest drops plans for Windmill timber sale

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

LIVINGSTON -- The Gallatin National Forest has dropped a controversial timber sale south of here, at least for now.

The Windmill sale had been proposed for the Mill Creek area in Paradise Valley. It would have harvested about 4.5 million board feet, but was likely to lose money, the U.S. Forest Service had said.

Several environmental groups had appealed the sale, and they won in January.

Now, after taking another look at the project, Gallatin Supervisor Becki Heath has decided to focus her staff's efforts on other projects.

"Becki has decided we will not pursue a project in Mill Creek at this time," spokeswoman Lorette Ray said Wednesday. "We've got other areas that are a higher priority."

"That's a victory for the people of Park County," said Jim Barrett, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council, one of the groups that appealed. "Their premier recreation area has been spared the chopping block."

The sale was projected to cost $376,000 more than it would have earned, based on a Forest Service financial analysis, although those numbers could have changed as lumber prices changed.

Those losses didn't include the estimated $230,000 it cost to plan the sale and write environmental analyses.

Since the Forest Service lost the appeal, expensive analysis would have to be done again, Ray said.

One area of heightened focus will be the Main Boulder project south of Big Timber, which is meant to reduce wildfire threats and will produce some commercial timber, Ray said.

Ed Regan, a forester at RY Timber in Livingston and Townsend, said he was "pretty disappointed" in Heath's decision.

"We were looking forward to buying that timber," he said. "We thought we could make it fit in real well with our mill."

Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com

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