Novotny Discusses Grizzly Bear, Old Growth Forest Issues

Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny, while a guest on our talk show Public Pulse Wednesday, discussed the recent discovery of a juvenile male grizzly bear near the Bighorn Mountains, and the US Forest Service’s proposal to amend the National Forest Plan concerning old growth forest management.

Novotny said the county commission wanted to make sure the Bighorn Mountains were not considered by state and federal wildlife officials as a prime location for

grizzlies.

Novotny also discussed the county’s push back on the proposed amendment by the US Forest Service to the National Forest Plan to Conserve and Steward Old Growth Forests.

Novotny said the forest is a crop and it needs to be managed, but when you take away a management tool such as thinning or cutting, you really limit the ability to manage the forest.