MISSOULA, Mont. - Gov. Brian Schweitzer is tired of the rhetoric over the future of Montana's nearly 6.4 million acres of roadless national forest land.

He wants Montanans to roll up their sleeves and come up with site-specific suggestions for how those lands should be managed in the future. And he wants county commissions around the state to lend a hand in gathering that information.

On Wednesday, he offered the Missoula County commissioners a chance to step into the fray and help gather input from locals interested in offering specific proposals for management of those undeveloped national forest lands.

Schweitzer said he is visiting a number of county commissions in communities affected by the roadless issue.

A recently released Bush administration plan gives governors 18 months to submit ideas to the U.S. Forest Service on how roadless lands should be managed and whether they should remain in a wild, roadless state.

The Bush plan was unveiled in May. It overturned a Clinton-era ban on logging and other development in roadless areas.

Schweitzer plans to host a general meeting for commissioners from throughout the state in October to hear their proposals.

When it comes time for that to happen, Schweitzer was very clear that he wanted the comments to be "sparse on philosophy and theology and strong in science and geology. I want these to be as site specific as possible."

It's time to get past the polarization that's occurred over management of roadless lands over the last 20 years, said Schweitzer.

"We need to recognize that these lands are for multiple use," he said.

Those uses run the gamut from being the headwaters of vital waterways, harboring habitat important to a huge variety of fauna and flora to sustained timber management and being the stomping grounds for both hunters and fishermen.

"We're looking for balance," he said.

Schweitzer told the commission and others packed into the meeting room that this is just the beginning of the process. When the information is compiled and gathered, he'll present it to the Forest Service.

Earlier this year, Schweitzer asked Bush in a letter for some additional staff to help Montana meet this new mandate.

He said the Forest Service employs 2,375 people in Montana and has a budget of $47 million. The governor's office has one natural resource adviser.

"In short, shifting the responsibility for management of the nation's roadless areas to the states is simply passing the buck," Schweitzer's letter said. "Worse, it will undoubtedly have the additional effect of entangling the states in a quagmire of court battles."

Still, Schweitzer said he was committed to gathering input from the communities affected by this plan.