SEELEY LAKE - The Lolo National Forest issued a decision on the Westside Bypass Wildfire Resiliency Project on the Seeley Lake Ranger District. The project area is located on National Forest lands about two miles northwest of Seeley Lake. The project will help address existing fuel and vegetation conditions that contribute to an increased risk of severe wildfire in areas adjacent to state and private lands.
“Implementation of portions of this project could begin as soon as this spring season,” said Quinn Carver, Seeley Lake District Ranger. “There has been a tremendous amount of collaboration on this project for years. We thank the public, our neighbors and partners for their engagement, and we look forward to improving the forest conditions and reducing wildfire risk in this area.”
Increased risk of wildfire and insect and disease impacts within the project area is due to dense vegetation conditions which includes a high concentration of dead and down trees. The project treatments will remove dead and down trees, ladder fuels, such as tree limbs, and other vegetation to reduce wildfire risk and the potential for ‘crown’ fires. Crown fires decrease a firefighter’s ability to engage a wildfire safely and effectively.
In priority areas and within commercial harvesting units, the pockets of dense woody material will also be reduced through mulching, pile burning, jackpot burning, and/or underburning. Commercial harvesting will improve forest structure by opening the canopy and promoting fire-resistant tree species, such as western larch and hardwoods.
To implement the treatments, temporary roads are needed to access the commercial units; however, no new permanent National Forest System roads will be constructed and no change in legal public motorized use will result from this project.
Carver said they had very few comments requesting changes the prescriptions.
“People liked what we put out,” Carver said.
The District did make a slight adjustment to the prescription, based on comments received, to retain old growth within the project area, specifically Douglas-fir.
They also considered comments regarding the Nordic trail system that was proposed through the project area several years ago. Carver said it did not fit within the scope of the project, since the focus is fuels mitigation, so it was not included in the final decision.
Project planning was completed in collaboration with local partners such as the Southwest Crown Collaborative, the Clearwater Resource Council and Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC). The Seeley Lake Ranger District and Montana DNRC are working closely on a Good Neighbor Authority Agreement which would enable the agencies to integrate staff and expertise to accomplish the fuels reduction through a commercial timber sale administered by the DNRC. The agreement provides a framework for both agencies to work together to accelerate the pace of fuels reduction and restoration on National Forest lands in areas with cross-boundary benefits.
To learn more about the project visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=58877
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