CRC comments on the North Seeley WUI

The Clearwater Resource Council (CRC) has reviewed the scoping notice for the North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface- Highway 83 Project #64580 proposed by the Seeley Lake Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest. The primary objective of the project is to reduce high intensity, stand replacing fire adjacent to private property and Highway 83 by thinning forest stands within the Wildland Urban Interface. This is appropriate considering the continuing risks of wildfire to the community of Seeley Lake.

However, we found that the scoping document has multiple flaws that must be addressed. Two specific flaws were of particular concern to us. We disagree with the project’s objective of the restoration of western white pine through removal of Douglas fir. Our Clearwater Valley did not historically include significant populations of western white pine. Silviculture aimed at re-establishing western white pine is misguided and inappropriate. The second major flaw is the proposed heavy harvests of stands of large and very large Douglas fir. Logging large numbers of large trees, and especially very large trees (greater than 20 inch diameters) because some of these trees might possibly die from beetle kill removes a very important and underrepresented size class of trees in the Valley. We do not support the proposed heavy harvest of very large Douglas fir. CRC hopes that the Forest Service can correct these errors in its scoping document and also rethink its focus on large Douglas fir. With such corrections and changes, this project can be very beneficial for the community.