Fire salvage plans scaled back

Flathead Forest Supervisor Cathy Barbouletos has approved a plan for managing areas burned by the 2003 Robert and Wedge Canyon fires.

The record of decision signed Tuesday includes timber salvage that was reduced substantially from the acreage and volumes proposed in the forest's final environmental impact statement that was released in early November.

The chosen plan will also involve seasonal or year-round closures on five miles of currently open road and obliterating 15 miles of road.

Those measures are intended to work toward reducing road densities to improve grizzly bear habitat security, but they fall short of meeting road density standards in the Flathead Forest Plan.

Because of that, Barbouletos is proposing site-specific amendments to the forest plan.

The approved plan calls for salvaging burned timber from 3,022 acres, less than 10 percent of the 34,650 acres burned by the Wedge Canyon Fire in the Flathead's upper North Fork Valley and the Robert Fire in the lower North Fork. About 23.3 million board feet of timber is expected to be salvaged.

The final environmental study proposed salvage logging 4,337 acres for an estimated yield of 26.7 million board feet.

The acreage and volumes were reduced because of "further ground verification" that determined fewer acres would be economically viable for harvest.

The forest had proposed that 19 miles of temporary roads would be needed to carry out the harvest, but now 12.9 miles are expected to be necessary because of the reduced harvest area.

About one-third of the salvage acreage will involve helicopters removing logs. The rest of the salvage work will involve skyline logging or tractor skidding.

The plan also calls for planting trees on 1,100 acres within salvage areas and planting trees or shrubs on 2,200 acres outside salvage areas.

It also calls for the use of pheromone "trap" trees to discourage Douglas fir beetle infestations within the burned areas, and studies aimed at monitoring vegetation regeneration. Huckleberry production, in particular, will be monitored.

The forest was granted an exemption that will allow logging to get under way during the period in which the project is open to administrative appeals.

Appeals are likely in this case.

Multiple-use advocates have been critical of the proposal to reduce motorized access within the burned areas, along with the forest's proposal to salvage timber from just a fraction of the burned areas.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, could object to the project's failure to comply with road density standards outlined in the forest plan.

Salvage sales will be advertised before the end of the year, and some logging is expected to get under way this winter.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com