The Evergreen Foundation’s new 2001 Ford pickup, a gift from the Montana Ford Dealer’s Advertising Association.

Bart Depratu, President, Depratu Ford, Whitefish, said the association made the decision to provide a prepaid three-year lease to the Foundation because “we admire their work and their even-handed approach to often contentious forestry issues.”

Jim Petersen, the Foundation’s executive director and editor of Evergreen Magazine said the arrangement is the first such the organization has received in its 15-year history. “Suffice it to say, we’re thrilled that Montana’s Ford dealers would want to help us in this way.”

Recent Ford Motor Company contributions to environmental organizations, totaling more than $15 million, have angered loggers, farmers, ranchers and grass roots organizations across the nation, though both Mr. Depratu and Mr. Petersen downplayed the role these contributions played in the Montana dealers’ donation.

“There’s no question about the fact that many Montana Ford dealers have gotten an earful from angry customers,” Mr. Petersen said. “I think Montana’s Ford dealers simply wanted to align itself with an organization that is respected in the scientific community and at the grass roots level. That’s Evergreen.”

Mr. Depratu concurred. “We see Evergreen as an organization capable of helping us strengthen our partnerships in rural timber communities. In the months to come we hope to develop some tools that will enable us to become more proactively involved in forestry-related issues that impact our businesses and our communities.”

Participating Members of the Montana Ford Dealers Association include Archie Cochrane Motors, Inc., Billings; Bell McCall, Hamilton; Big Sky Motors, Inc., Dillon; Bison Motor Co., Great Falls; Bitterroot Motors, Inc., Missoula; Bozeman Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Bozeman; Brooks Hanna Ford, Butte; Capital Motors, Helena; Country Ford-Mercury, Plains; Courtesy Ford Sales, Conrad; Davey Motor Company, Columbus; Delta Ford, Inc., Malta; Depratu Ford-VW-Audi, Whitefish; Don Aadsen Ford-Mercury, Ronan; Doughten Ford Sales, Chinook; Hardin Auto Co., Hardin; Havre Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Havre; Heberle Ford-Mercury, Forsyth; Hi-Line Ford, Inc., Glasgow; Hilltop Motors, Lewistown; Larson Motor Co., Inc., Sidney; Laurel Ford, Laurel; Livingston Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Livingston; Mac’s Frontierland, Inc., Miles City; McKinney Motors, Culbertson; Mills Motor Co., Inc., Fairfield; Northern Ford, Cut Bank; Plentywood Motor Sales, Inc., Plentywood; Power Motors, Fort Benton; Rathert-Fox Ford-Mercury, Inc., Wolf Point; Ray Judd Ford, Inc., Red Lodge; Rice Ford Sales, Whitehall; Rygg Ford Sales, Kalispell; Shelby Motors LLC, Shelby; Stetson Ford, Inc., Big Timber; Timberline Auto Center, Libby; Urbanec Motors, Inc., Glendive and Valley Sales, Townsend.

International Joins In

Just weeks after the Montana Ford Dealer’s Advertising Association contributed a new 2001 Ford F250 to the Evergreen Foundation, International Truck and Engine Corporation, makers of the Power Stroke Diesel used in Ford trucks, reimbursed the Foundation for the added cost of the motor.

Foundation executive director Jim Petersen said International’s gift will be used to help fund a special report describing the role diesel power played in the opening and subsequent management of the West’s forests.

“Diesel power played a historic and very positive role,” Mr. Petersen explained. “But like so many other good news forestry stories it has received too little attention.”

International communications manager, Robert Carso, said the company is pleased to have the opportunity to affiliate itself with the Foundation’s efforts to promote science-based forestry.