Missoula firm wins timber contract

The Daily Inter Lake

A Missoula logging company was the successful bidder for a roadside timber salvage sale in the area burned by last summer's Brush Creek Fire.

An auction was held Friday by the Flathead National Forest, with Barry Smith Logging of Missoula the highest of three bidders.

The successful bid was $18.50 per ton for a sale advertised for a minimum of $11.14 per ton. The sale involves hazard trees that were felled by firefighting crews along roads in the burn perimeter.

The total sale involves an estimated 3,800 tons of salvage timber, or just over 2.5 million board feet.

Last month, the Flathead Forest offered about 3.5 million board feet in an initial effort to sell the roadside timber, but no bidders showed up for the auction.

One likely bidder said a combination of low lumber prices and some timber that would be difficult to retrieve made the package unattractive.

The forest reconfigured the sale to make it more attractive.