Members of the Lolo Interagency Hotshots lighting strips of fire on one of the Horseshoe West units. By igniting the fuels in strips, firefighters are able to manage the intensity of the fire to meet objectives and maintain control of the fire.
Acting Seeley Lake District Ranger Quinn Carver said they were on the low end of the prescription to meet the objectives. However he was pleased since this was the first entry with fire since the Forest Service took ownership.
Willow regrowth is prevalent in the areas that were prescribed burned last year. Burning under low to moderate intensity increases the winter forage for ungulates.
SEELEY LAKE – Nearly 45 firefighters ignited more than 300 acres in the Horseshoe Hills area April 24-25. The objectives of the prescribed burns included reducing fuels and mitigating wildfire risk south of Double Arrow Ranch and west of Big Sky Lake while also improving winter and transitional range for deer and elk.
The Horseshoe Hills area used to be owned by Plum Creek. When Plum Creek put it on the market, many thought it would become the next big subdivision in the valley.
According to Seeley Lake Ranger District Wildlife Biologist Scott Tomson said several local stakeholders, including Jack Rich and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, pushed for Forest Service acquisition. This was due to the area's proximity to critical habitat on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range and potential for development in the wildland urban interface.
The Seeley Lake Ranger District purchased the land in the mid-2000s with money set aside for high priority fuels projects.
The District uses prescribed fire to reduce fuels and thin. The area is a high priority fuels and wildland urban interface treatment area due to the proximity to the Double Arrow Ranch and Big Sky Lake subdivisions since the prevailing winds would push wildfire into them. It is also big game winter and transitional range where fire is used to stimulate the shrub, grass and forbs in the area.
"We want to thin with fire out here," said Tomson. "It is much cheaper and much more ecologically beneficial to thin with fire."
In partnership with the DNRC, the Forest Service burned the area with partial funding from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. These prescribed burns were the first entry to the area with prescribed fire post-harvest.
The objectives of the two units burned were to reduce fuels but not kill all of the regeneration. The prescription called for 50 percent retention of the ponderosa pine. Because of the Douglas fir coming in on the understory due to a lack of historical fire, 100 percent mortality of the Douglas fir was acceptable. There was also a small area of state school trust lands where no tree mortality was acceptable.
Tomson said the Forest Service is making progress towards looking across ownership boundaries at all lands and including the different perspectives on the use of fire. This includes getting the community more comfortable with fire during the spring when it is more easily managed.
Tomson said, "We are putting fire on the ground when the conditions allow us to control fire and meet some of our objectives."
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