Kootenai National Forest offers fire salvage sales

Wild fires in 2017 and 2018 burned more than 100,000 acres of the Kootenai National Forest and the U.S. Forest Service has responded with fire salvage timber sales in the burned areas.

The 2017 fires included, but were not limited to: Gibralter Ridge, Caribou, West Fork Moose Peak and the Montana 200 Complex fires.

A portion of the 2017 salvage sales, which were sales of “salvage deck” timber — the trees downed during construction of fire lines — occurred during the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the Forest Service said. Those sales totaled about 4 million board feet.

The other salvage sales from the 2017 fires totaled about 50 million board feet.

The Forest Service said buyers moved quickly to complete the salvage work, efforts the agency said aided restoration work in the burned areas.

Salvage opportunities from the 2018 fires are being analyzed, with potential sales to be offered in 2019, the Forest Service said.

The 2018 fires included: Davis, Gold Hill and Ten Mile.

Salvage deck sales from 2018 have been packaged as timber sales and have either been sold or are being sold, the agency said, with a volume of about 4 million board feet.

In a news release, the Forest Service said, “These salvage sale projects protect the health and safety of the public by removing burned trees. The sales contribute to recovering the economic value of forest products in a timely manner.”

For more information, contact Stacey Hazen, timber management officer, Kootenai National Forest, 406-293-6211.