CSKT DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY MASTERPLAN

Ronan, MT

Along with Woodstone Construction Inc., RML Architects and our sub-consultants’ partners assisted the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Department of Forestry with the overall development and master planning of their 4 1/2 acre site.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Department of Forestry’s mission “is to promote perpetually productive ecosystems for future generations…” and “…promote forest health and return forest lands to near pre-settlement, fire maintained forest structures.”  The Department of Forestry currently operates an existing greenhouse located in Ronan, MT, to restore whitebark pine trees on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Whitebark pines have been recently devastated by white pine blister rust on approximately 110,000 acres of tribal lands. The CSKT Department of Forestry propagates whitebark pine seedlings from pinecones, and plants the seedlings in an effort to restore the natural forest in CSKT’s ancestral homelands.

The Department of Forestry intends to expand its operation by designing and constructing a multi-phased expansion of their existing greenhouse facility. In addition, to the devastated whitebark pines, the Forestry Department hopes to expand the program to include a number of endangered species.