we protect wild areas and old growth, while actively promoting restoration protection of the habitats of endangered, threatened, and sensitive species in the inland northwest
We work to create new recreational opportunities in our region, including a plan in the Colville National Forest that will benefit hikers, bikers, horseback riders, and skiers.
Public lands advocacy & collaboration
The Inland Northwest has a myriad of public lands from the vast 1.5 million acres Colville National Forest to 3 National Wildlife Refuges as well as state, county, and city lands. Federal and state forest lands are managed for multiple uses and all of these uses from increases in recreation to timber harvest have an impact on our lands. We also need to work toward incorporating and securing tribal rights - such has hunting, gathering, and cultural practices - on their historic homelands. These are big tasks that The Lands Council tackles head on.
America’s forests face unprecedented and cumulative threats. The problems include accelerating climate change, a century of fire suppression and lack of appropriate fire, rapidly expanding development in the Wildland Urban Interface, a vast and crumbling road network, the spread of invasive species, increasing motorized recreation, firefighting costs spiraling out of control, and other stressors. These problems are harming wildlife, degrading water quality and exposing communities to unparalleled fire danger.
Wildfire risk and drought are driving potentially ecologically harmful forest practices that are not grounded in best science appropriate for different forest types and fire regimes. All of this results in reduced ecological resilience which puts at risk the public benefits our national forests provide. In short, our public lands are not ready to adapt to the changing climate and the agency’s efforts in the direction to-date are underfunded and out of scale with the need.
The Lands Council has responded to this public lands challenge by helping start three collaborative efforts in our region and is an active member of the Northeast Washington Forest Coalition. Working with timber companies, county commissioners, recreationists, and rural leaders we have started to find common ground on managing our public lands. The results are better restoration projects, increased forest health, protection of large fire tolerant trees, and support for permanent protection of the most pristine parts of the forests. The Lands Council is also working to keep public lands open to all citizens, and not turn them over to private ownership. We are working with elected officials to increase funding for public lands, as well as increase the pace of forest restoration.
WILD FORESTS & WILDLIFE
The Inland Northwest has a number of threatened and endangered species – and some at risk of disappearing from our region. The excess of roads, encroachment of their territory, habitat loss from logging, and impaired water quality have negatively affected the Canada Lynx, Gray Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Northern Goshawk, Bull Trout and the iconic Mountain Caribou populations. Also, wolves and grizzly bears are often under attack by rural communities and some individuals in the ranching and hunting community. This brings challenges to recovering these two vital species.
To combat these threats and risks, The Lands Council collaborates with the Colville, Idaho Panhandle, and Kootenai National Forests. Through these efforts we have found common ground on forest restoration projects and support for permanently protecting the wildest parts of the forest. In time, forest restoration will restore the habitat and forest structure for many of the most threatened species. Our collaborations also involve community leaders including county commissioners and state and national elected officials.