Restore Montana: Building a Restoration Economy

The restoration of damaged lands and waters and the revitalization of deteriorating com­munity assets across Montana present multiple opportunities to benefit businesses, work­ers, communities, wildlife, and water quality. Montana is in a position to lead the West in developing a restoration economy that attracts investment and creates “green-collar” jobs with local employers while enhancing our land, water and communities. Combining restoration of the natural environment in the same effort as revitalization of the built environment provides an in­novative and holistic model that incorporates diverse interests.

These interests are coming together as the Restore Montana network. To date, the network includes Wildlands CPR along with 30 other community leaders representing business and indus­try, labor, state universities, government, sportsmen and conservation interests.

Successes
Based in part upon public support from Re­store Montana and the network’s unique range of leaders, the Montana legislature in its recent session established a new Restoration Office. The office will be staffed by a coordinator and provided with funding for database development and project coordination.

Last summer, the Western Governors’ As­sociation put forth a policy resolution entitled “The Restoration Economy.” This resolution acknowledges the importance of restoration efforts across the West and calls on Congress to improve funding for restoration projects, includ­ing the establishment of a multi-year appropria­tion formula similar to the Highway Bill.

Vision
Restore Montana’s vision for building a res­toration economy focuses on new approaches to economic development that aim to create financial, social, and environmental returns on investment. To achieve the vision, restorative development projects require cross-disciplinary collaboration at an unprecedented scale.

Our vision includes:

• An integrated approach to restore the natural environment and revitalize the built envi­ronment, creating high-skill, high-wage jobs in rural areas and in towns and cities;
• State-level coordination to identify and implement needed policy changes that create incentives for private and public investment in restoration;
• Common interests that bring together the industry, labor, conservation and education communities; and
• Investment at the university level both to train a new, local workforce, and to create a na­tional intellectual center for restoration research and technology.

Goals
Restore Montana will create and develop the network of interests that can act effectively to realize this vision.

Our goals include:

1. Spurring coordinated public and private investment in restoration and community revitalization. Sustained funding is the biggest obstacle to realizing the economic potential of restoration work. Restore Montana is exploring different public and private investment opportunities and policy changes that could jumpstart this economic revolution.
2. Working with Montana universities and technical colleges to train a restoration workforce and to develop and assess new restoration technolo­gies. Montana’s state universities and technical colleges can contribute innovative research, restoration technologies and training programs that can be exported across the nation and even internationally.
3. Building a dynamic, multi-faceted online knowledge management system that will serve as an ongoing repository for Montana’s restoration economy. Restore Montana’s online network strategy uses the power of information technology to accelerate the new relationships and knowledge transfer necessary to realize the vision for Montana’s restoration economy.

Restore Montana is working to turn the idea of a restoration economy into reality. With investment and coordination, Montana can create a lo­cally-based, sustainable sector of the economy, creating a model that can benefit efforts across the Rocky Mountain West.