BITTERROOT VALLEY, Mont. — For the first time in three years, $200,000 in Secure Rural Schools Title II funding is available for projects around the Bitterroot National Forest.
A committee must form to decide how that money is spent.
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"If you love the outdoors and you love Montana and you want to help improve our landscapes and our ecosystems here, RAC is a wonderful group to belong to," said Ravalli County Weed District coordinator Kellieann Fillingham.
The Ravalli County Weed District has received project funding from the Ravalli County Resource Advisory Committee, or the RAC.
"We were able to treat thousands of acres on the ground, work to reduce the weeds so that way the good vegetation can grow and our sheep have something good to eat out there," Fillingham said.
The RAC is a group of 15 people that advises the Bitterroot National Forest on how to spend its Secure Rural Schools Title II funds.
"We need people from like the timber industry or grazing. We do need people from environmental groups and or hunting groups, that type of thing. And then the last one would be for like elected officials or it's actually a catch-all for the general public as well," Stevensville District Ranger Seth Romocki told MTN.
Past awards have gone to the Saint Mary Peak Lookout Volunteer Stewardship Program, Fred Burr Creek culvert replacements, the Weed District’s Youth Bio-control Program and more.
"We literally have our Rush Skeletonweed plants counted in Ravalli County. We know exactly where they're at or we hope that we know exactly where they're at. RAC has helped us contribute to boots on the ground to get these weeds looked for and treated to not let that become our next Knapweed in Ravalli County," Fillingham explained.
This year, there have been a few applications, but not enough for a full committee. Without a complete council, the money sits dormant or could be lost.
"I believe the funding, as long as the act is reauthorized, it will sit there, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future," Romocki said.
For more information on applying, click here.
