Prescribed fires slated around the Flathead Valley
Nick Aschenwald, with the Montana DNRC, uses a drip torch to ignite bunch grass during a prescribed burn at Lone Pine State Park in Kalispell on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Held in conjunction with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the prescribed fire is aimed at benefiting the park's grassland habitat, including native plants and the wildlife species that frequent the area.(Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Multiple prescribed burns are slated around the Flathead Valley, including the Flathead, Swan, and Stillwater forests, as the summer season begins to wind down.
“We develop these plans and plan ahead to have fire on the landscape so we can impact the landscape beneficially,” said Ivy Gehling, the executive assistant with the Flathead National Forest. “... to just kind of maintain the type of landscape that is at its healthiest.”
Both Forest Service lands and state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation lands will see burns.
The Flathead National Forest is planning on completing prescribed burn projects in various districts, each with their own goals. Each burn, as Gehling said, is outlined in a Prescribed Fire Burn Plan, where the areas are located and designed to be controlled to reduce the potential for adverse effects, according to the Forest Service.
A few prescribed fires will be visible from Whitefish as fire officials target the divide north of Whitefish Mountain Resort. The Taylor Hell Roaring project include 300 acres of land, located on the uphill side of Forest Road #9790. The objective, according to Forest Service officials, is to reduce the risk and severity of large-scale fires.
There are two other projects in the district. The Dateline project includes 90 acres in the upper Good Creek area to reduce slash and debris caused by harvest. The Whitefish Municipal Watershed project will burn 200 acres of natural fuels to reduce stand density, improve mule deer and elk habitat and prepare for the planting of whitebark pine.
The Spotted Bear Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest will burn to reduce fuel loading, increase winter range forage and reintroduce fire into the ecosystem. Specifically, according to Gehling, some of the burns aim to reduce conifer encroachment and provide a winter range ecosystem for wildlife.
There are two burn areas in the district, one totaling 515 acres and the other 48 acres. Smoke will be visible from the southern end of the Hungry Hore Reservoir and the Spotted Bear District Office Area.
In the Swan Lake Ranger District, the Forest Service is taking on two burns: the Cold Jim Timber Sale and the Swan Valley Bottom Maintenance Burning. The burns will help reduce fuels and regenerate vegetation, Forest Service officials say. They are 27 and 20 acres, respectively.
The Hungry Horse Ranger District has no broadcast burning planned but may utilize pile burnings when conditions become favorable.
“It’s really hard to guess exactly when they’ll start. They need the correct conditions... with the weather and the fuels on the ground, air quality is always a big part of that too. It's hard to guess when those factors will align for them to make a burn window,” Gehling said.
The Spotted Bear Ranger District began some of the burns on Monday.
The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Northwestern Land office is also planning prescribed burns in the Stillwater and Swan State forests this fall on 18 state trust land units, ranging from 14 to 216 acres in the Main Woodward and South Woodward drainages.
The efforts will reduce dangerous fuels, promote forest regeneration and protect nearby communities, according to the state agency.
“Prescribed burning is an effective tool used to reduce slash generated from forest management activities and prepare sites for regeneration,” said Dave Marx, the department’s Swan Unit Manager, in a press release. “These controlled fires will return nutrients to the soil, release cone seeds, and reduce competing vegetation, supporting new seedling growth.”
Smoke from these fires may also be visible from nearby highways and communities.
To learn more, contact the Swan Unit Office at 406-754-2301, the Stillwater Unit Office at 406-881-2371, the Hungry Horse Ranger District at 406-387-3800, the Spotted Bear Ranger District at 406-758-5376, the Swan Lake Ranger District at 406-837-7500 or the Tally Lake Ranger District at 406-758-5204.
Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.