In late March, the Northern Region of the Forest Service (Montana, Northern Idaho, Western North Dakota), announced the dispersal of $4.7 million in new road management funds. The funds are part of the new $39.4 million Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative [0] that the Forest Service received in December 2007.

About 20% of the overall northern region funding will go to restore fish passage by fixing culverts. Approximately 20% will go to road reclamation, and the remainder will go to critical maintenance needs and bridge repairs.

Economists at The Wilderness Society just developed an estimate of how many jobs the funding will provide in Montana based on the projects that will be funded. Their review estimates that approximately 65 new jobs [0] will be created in the state - an average of about 21 jobs per million spent. The job creation in Idaho would probably be relatively similar, though we don't have the state specific breakdown.

Click here to check out a front page article from the Missoulian [1] about how this new funding can provide high-wage, high-skill jobs [1] for people in rural communities.