Management by Star Valley or by Jackson standards? That was a question that often surfaced as officials and the public discussed management of the Bridger-Teton National Forest over the past few decades at meetings and gatherings here in Star Valley.

I sat through those meetings, many centered on the question of a multiple use approach to use of our national forest that flanked Star Valley’s east side and the Kemmerer/Diamondville northern county.

It appeared the concern was focused on the eastern forest and not the Caribou-Targhee on the west and north.

Those discussions followed the loss of a Star Valley timber mill production facility in the late 1980s.

With the closure came a blow to the Afton and regional economy in the subsequent years.

Jobs, both at the mill and in the forest, along with subsequent support businesses, simply went faded away.

In the 1990s the management of forest followed with a master plan for the Bridger-Teton. That plan appeared to be centered more on preservation than use of, and access to, our neighboring national forest.

And, now it’s time to re-think our approach to this massive 3.4 million acre forest and the possibility of taking  a full, multiple use approach.

This will take involvement from Star Valley and the Kemmerer/Diamondville areas.

You have the opportunity with the public meetings on forest management now underway in western Wyoming. The first was held Monday night at the Afton Civic Center.

This time let’s take a Lincoln County approach to use and management.

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