Alternatives for Rice Ridge Fire Salvage Project Explained

SEELEY LAKE – The Rice Ridge Fire Salvage Project team presented the Rice Ridge Fire Salvage Environmental Assessment and alternatives at a public meeting June 27. Public comments will be accepted through July 11. Seeley Lake District Ranger Rachel Feigley said they are on schedule and look forward to implementation by the end of August.

During the 2017 fire season, 720,700 acres burned on Federal land in Montana and 227,442 acres were on the Lolo National Forest. The post-fire work was managed at a regional level with fire salvage determined to be the number one priority.

The purposes for salvage on the Rice Ridge Fire included recovering the economic value of forest product, reducing hazards threatening human health and safety and re-establishing forest conditions and or facilitating recovery which includes tree planting. In addition to these purposes, the project team was also tasked with accounting for the accumulative effect on bull trout and other listed fish, listed streams and threatened species including the Canada Lynx.

Of the 100,000 acres that burned on the Seeley Lake Ranger District, the proposed design criteria identified 4,838 acres of proposed salvage opportunity. This included the use of 116 miles of existing roads, reconstructing 16 miles of existing roads that are currently unused and 16 miles of temporary road construction.

During the scoping period in January, the project received 38 comments addressing the proposal. Some comments said to do more: take a closer look at the wildland-urban interface near Seeley Lake; increase roadside hazard tree removal to 200 feet; add harvest in Seeley and Trails Creeks and build more roads. Others said to do less: don't build roads, instead use helicopters to log and don't build roads in Morrell Creek therefore reducing negative aquatic effects.

In the Environmental Assessment the team presented three alternatives: Alt A, Alt B and Alt C. During the meeting, they focused on the differences between alternatives. The full EA is available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53114

Alt A is to take no action and not complete the salvage sale.

Alt B adds around 500 acres to the wildland urban interface near Seeley Lake in Seeley and Trail Creek. This brings the total acreage proposed for salvage up to 5,604 acres. This addition was included based on the comments during the scoping period.

About 60 percent of the area will be tractor ground and 40 percent skyline logged with the 60 percent Douglas fir with the rest of the harvest being mixed.

In Alt B, they will use existing roads beds that are not currently a part of the road system. For the harvest they will use 115 miles of existing roads, 18 miles of reconstructed roads and construct 13 miles of new roads.

Alt B also includes proposed road maintenance and decommissioning of non-system roads to offset impacts to aquatics due to sedimentation constraints. There will be 27.5 miles of non-system roads decommissioned including the gated road in Dunham Creek and main roads and old logging roads, called jammer roads, in Little Shanley and Black Canyon.

Jammer roads were built across the mountain face using switch backs to assess timber on steep slopes. USFS Fisheries Biologist Shane Hendrickson explained when one jammer road starts sloughing down the slope, it damages the other roads resulting in a whole slope failure. Decommissioning the old roads is one way to prevent a major slide and the resulting sedimentation. It will also offset the new road construction to remain in compliance with the Lolo National Forest Travel Plan.

The team also proposed two reroutes totaling 1.6 miles of the road in Alt B. This includes moving the road north of the junction to Morrell Falls up the hill so it is on the ridge instead of in the creek bottom. In Cottonwood Canyon, the Spring Creek Road would be moved to the south side.

"That would eliminate two stream crossings, two culvert fish barriers and a half mile of riparian road while maintaining access," said Hendrickson who added that each culvert would cost $80,000 to replace in Spring Creek.

In Alt B, 16,000 acres are proposed for planting which is in addition to the harvest units that will be planted if necessary. They will plant western larch and ponderosa pine and the amount will be dependant on the natural regeneration.

Both Alt B and Alt C extended the initially proposed 100 feet to 150 feet on either side of the road for hazard tree removal in areas of moderate to high severity burn. Trees removed are selected based on risk of falling. They did not extend this to the suggested 200 feet because even the largest trees in the area don't get above 150 feet tall.

There are no areas closed for firewood except for the timber sale units. Blue flagging or vertical orange paint mark the proposed units. Firewood cutters are asked to stay out of those areas. Maps are also available at the district.

Alt C is very similar to Alt B except there will be no temporary road construction, no decommissioning of roads to offset the new road construction and only 2,700 acres are proposed for treatment. The lack of access limits the amount of area that can be treated without temporary road construction. Also, this alternative doesn't include the 500 acre WUI unit near Seeley Lake

There will be 94 miles of forest system roads used for haul route. About 60 percent Douglas fir and the rest mixed species for harvest. Again the means of harvest will be 65 percent tractor and 35 percent skyline logging.

In both Alt B and Alt C, all of the tractor logging in the Morrell Creek Drainage and in Alt B in Seeley and Trail Creeks will have a winter logging requirement. This was proposed because of the high burn severity in those areas.

"We didn't want to put equipment over raw soils and further compromise the recovery of those areas," said Feigley. "By winter logging, we are putting the machinery on top of snow and we can still remove that value."

The reforestation of Alt. C is around 15,000 acres due to the limited road access. There will be a mix of planting western larch and ponderosa pine and natural regeneration.

Seeley Lake District Recreation Supervisor Katie Knotek said there is the potential for a lot of effects to recreation from the proposed alternatives.

Concern on popular trailheads like Lodgepole and Pyramid Pass with road closures could impact outfitters and the general public in the summer. There are also the Center Ridge, South Morrell, Florence Lake and Rice Ridge Trails that run through the units in the summer. Even though these trails are not heavily used, Knotek is concerned about people being in the area during operations and maintaining the trail infrastructure following the logging operation.

In the winter, it is the combination of hauling and logging activities that impact trail users. When timber harvest happens in the winter, recreationist access is closed from 4 a.m. – 6 p.m. during the week. While there are several units that include mandatory winter harvest, Knotek said the contractor has the option to do more winter harvest. The full scale of impact on winter trails will not be known until the sales are made.

"When the timber sale projects were going on in the past, there has been some understanding that we have a mill in town and we want to get this wood out. A lot of people who work at the mill are also recreationists," said Feigley. "Try to understand how we support the community in both types of those arenas and blend those interests as best we can. We may not always make everyone happy but we are certainly open to listen to options and alternatives so we can figure out a good balance."

Feigley said the team is hoping to move forward with an Emergency Situation Determination which eliminates the objection period. The Chief of the Forest Service would need to sign off on the ESD allowing them to begin implementation in August and September. Without the ESD, the objection period could delay the project another three months.

The comment period ends July 11. Feigley said by Aug. 27 they plan to have chosen an alternative. She hopes to have the sale packages out Aug. 28. Depending on which alternative is chosen, they could have up to four sales out for bid.

For more information about the EA, to read the analysis by the various specialist and to comment visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53114.