Comments sought on Spotted Bear project

The Flathead National Forest is seeking public input for a broad management project on more than 50,000 acres in the Spotted Bear River drainage.

“The proposed project will be designed to address multiple resource objectives based on a watershed-level assessment we completed in 2000, and forest-plan direction,” Spotted Bear District Ranger Deb Mucklow said.

Mucklow said district staffers have revisited the assessment and validated some of its recommendations for the project, which has a major emphasis on restoring ponderosa pine and curbing disease and infestations of Douglas fir bark beetle and mountain pine beetle.

District officials estimate the project would yield 4 million to 6 million board feet of timber with a commercial harvest on 1,285 acres, in cutting units scattered throughout the 50,000-acre project area.

Other project objectives include maintaining and improving developed recreation sites within the river corridor; extending the seasons for motorized access into the Middle Big Bill and Silvertip trailheads and reducing vehicle-trailer conflicts at the Silvertip trailhead.

The project will not involve road closures or road reclamation to meet forest plan road-density standards. The project area, Mucklow said, already complies with Forest Plan Amendment 19, which prescribes road-density standards for providing grizzly bear habitat security.

Mucklow encourages public comment to help determine issues of concern, input on the amount of analysis that should go into planning the project, and suggestions on developing alternative approaches to the project.

Comments should be forwarded to the Spotted Bear Ranger District by Dec. 4. For more information, contact the project leader at 387-3851 or look for “projects and plans” on the Flathead Forest Web site at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead