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Rexford Ranger District
Kootenai National Forest
Lincoln County, Montana
CARIBOU FIRE SALVAGE AND
RESTORATION
2
In the summer of 2017, the Kootenai Nation-
al Forest experienced an unprecedented fire
season and tens of thousands of acres across
the Forest were impacted by wildland fire.
Substantial impacts to human safety, air
quality, recreation, wildlife habitat, water-
sheds, and general forest health were felt
across the Forest.
The Caribou Fire was detected on August 11,
2017 on the Three Rivers Ranger District and
eventually burned on to the Rexford Ranger
District on August 23. Approximately 24,753
acres burned, including lands in British Co-
lumbia, Canada, and lands managed by Mon-
tana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) and Mon-
tana Department of Natural Resources and
Conservation (DNRC), the Kootenai National
Forest, and private lands. The fire burned a
portion of the partially completed Young
Dodge timber sale. No salvage activities are
proposed for the portion of the fire that oc-
curred on the Three Rivers Ranger District.
The Caribou Fire burned with varying severi-
ty, leaving a mosaic of burn patterns across
the landscape that range from unburned is-
lands to areas where tree crowns were com-
pletely consumed. From a distance, some for-
est stands within the fire perimeter appear
green because the tree crowns were not
burned. Many of these stands will have high
levels of mortality because because the thin
barked tree species did not protect them from
the intense heat generated as the wildfire
burned through the uncharacteristically dry
fuels on the forest floor and upper layers of
the soil. Additionally, the burned areas have
an increased likelihood of bark beetle attack
which may cause additional mortality. In are-
as with a high burn severity, nearly all the
trees have died or are expected to die in the
near future.
This is a proposal to remove hazardous
trees, salvage dead and dying trees, and
plant seedlings in portions of the Caribou
Fire area. The project area is located 11-17
miles northwest of Eureka, Montana and
immediately west and north of the
community of West Kootenai, MT. The
project area consists of all or portions of
T37N, R28W, Sections 5-8 and 17-20, and
T37N, R29W, Sections 1-5, 8-17, 20-24, and
28, P.M.M in Lincoln County, Montana.
THE PROPOSED
ACTION
Photo by P. Price
3
Purpose of and Need for Action
The Caribou Fire has created a need to:
Reduce hazards threatening human health
and safety
The Forest Plan
seeks to maintain a
transportation sys-
tem that provides
safe and efficient
public and adminis-
trative access (FW-
DC-AR-07).
There is a need to
reduce high densities
of fire killed trees
near NFS roads,
trails, and developed
sites. If left stand-
ing, these trees pose
a risk to people working and recreating in the
area. Within the Caribou Fire burned area,
approximately 82 miles of National Forest
System Road are at elevated risks to hazards
including falling snags and fire weakened
trees. Approximately 17 miles are open to
public motorized travel. Over time, hazard
trees will continue to fall because of increased
defect, mortality, weather, and other environ-
mental factors.
Despite the burned conditions, public and ad-
ministrative use of the area is expected to in-
crease over the next five to ten years for mush-
room picking, firewood collection, timber sal-
vage, tree planting, Burned Area Emergency
Response (BAER) work, and other post-fire sta-
bilization and monitoring activities.
Although some hazard trees have been felled
along open roads, without a more substantial
effort to address high-risk trees, these hazards
will continue to affect safe access for recrea-
tion, and ongoing and future management ac-
tivities. There is a need to mitigate the hazards
to protect the health and safety of the public,
forest managers, and contractors conducting
land management ac-
tivities. Removing haz-
ard trees or felling
them and leaving
them onsite where
commercial harvest is
not consistent with res-
toration objectives,
would proactively miti-
gate many of these
risks.
The Caribou fire great-
ly reduced ground,
surface, and aerial
fuels within the fire
perimeter, therefore reducing the immediate
potential for high intensity fire behavior within
the area. However, fuel loads are expected to
increase over time as the trees killed by the fire
begin to fall down, vegetation re-grows, and
duff and litter layers rebuild. Forest Plan direc-
tion for fuels is to provide for firefighter and
public safety, reduce hazardous fuels within the
Wildland Urban Interface and other areas
where values are at risk, and reduce threats
from unplanned ignitions for the community
of the West Kootenai (FW-DC-FIRE-01, FW-DC-
FIRE-02, GA-DC-FIRE-KOO-01). Within the
next 5-15 years many of the dead trees will
have fallen, creating varying fuel loads depend-
ing on fire severity and pre-fire stand composi-
tion. If left untreated, these fuels could create a
continuous fuel bed consisting of both large
diameter fuels from large branches and tree
boles, and small diameter fuels from tops and
crowns that were killed but not consumed dur-
ing the fire. These conditions could
Photo by H. Burow
4
Purpose and Need (Cont.)
contribute to undesirable high intensity fire
behavior that threatens private land and the
safety of fire suppression personnel. Addition-
ally, dead trees that remain standing within
the fire perimeter may leave snag numbers
that far exceed that which is desirable per Forest-Plan direction. In these areas, fire suppression
personnel will be at much higher risk during
future wildfire events due to these elevated
snag levels. In order to reduce these future
risks, there is a need to reduce the amount of
fire killed fuels from the site.
There is a need to remove trees near riparian
areas with too many standing and down trees
that could potentially put too much woody
material into the water course. Too many logs
and other debris in the streams during spring
run-off conditions could scour stream banks
and negatively affect infrastructure.
Re-establish forested conditions and/or fa-
cilitate recovery to meet management ob-
jectives outlined in the Forest Plan.
The current composition of the forest, both at
stand and landscape levels, deviates considera-
bly from the desired conditions identified in
the Forest Plan, specifically FW-DC-VEG-01.
The desired condition is to increase western
white pine, ponderosa pine, western larch and
whitebark pine. The Caribou Fire caused high
levels of tree mortality. In areas that burned
at high severity, there is little to no seed source
remaining for natural tree regeneration. In
order to plant more early seral and fire re-
sistant species, treatment is needed to prepare
the site for tree planting and to allow the for-
ested stands to be safely planted. Site prepara-
tion will expedite recovery towards desired
conditions in comparison to natural processes.
FW-DC-RIP-05 expresses the desire for re-
covery of Riparian Habitat Conservation
Areas (RHCAs) following watershed dis-
turbance. Site preparation and planting of
riparian species within the RHCAs will ex-
pedite recovery of the riparian areas to-
ward Forest Plan desired conditions in
comparison to natural processes.
Recover the economic value of forest
products in a timely manner to con-
tribute to employment and income in
local communities and avoid loss of
commodity value.
As described by the Forest Plan (FW-DC-
TBR-01), it is desired that salvage of dead
and dying trees capture as much of the eco-
CARIBOU FIRE
These pictures are from various stages of the Caribou Fire.
Clockwise from top: 1. Aerial view of the fire after it crossed
on to the Rexford Ranger District. (Photo by A. Osborn) 2.
View of Caribou smoke column from the Incident Command
Post. (Photo by M. Burow) 3. VLAT retardant drop on Caribou
Fire (Photo by A. Osborn)
5
nomic value of the wood as possible
while retaining the amount needed for
wildlife habitat, soil productivity, and
ecosystem functions. The proposed sal-
vage units occur where enough mer-
chantable timber exists to provide an
economically viable timber sale. The
revenue generated by the timber sales
would capture the commodity value
necessary to accomplish project objec-
tives while contributing to employ-
ment and income in local communi-
ties. Time sensitive, viable preparation
of timber sales is critical to ensure that
project objectives can be accomplished. This
would also make progress toward FW-DC-
SES-02.
Management Areas
Activities are proposed primarily in Man-
agement Area (MA) 6 (General Forest).
The Forest Plan describes this management
area as “relatively large areas with roads,
trails, and structures, as well as signs of
past and ongoing activities designed to ac-
tively manage the forest vegetation.” Many
of the acres within
MA 6 are suitable
for the production
of timber on a reg-
ulated basis,
providing wood
fiber in response to
regional and na-
tional demand.
MA 5a,
(backcountry non-
motorized) is also
in the project area.
This MA is made
up of relatively
large areas
(generally without roads) and provides a
variety of motorized and non-motorized
recreation opportunities. The only activities
proposed in MA5a are planting of white-
bark pine and other reforestation activities.
There is a small portion of MA 7 (primary
recreation area) in the project area. There
are no activities proposed in MA 7. The re-
mainder of the project area is state and pri-
vate lands. No activities are proposed on
state and private lands.
Table 1. Management Areas
Management Area Acres
MA 5a 2,052
MA 6 18,463
MA 7 1,206
Other lands (State
and Private) 4,800
Total Acres in Pro-
ject Area 26,521
VICINITY MAP
6
Project Planning and Design
The Caribou Fire Salvage and Reforestation
Project has been designed to avoid or mini-
mize potential impacts to resources, and com-
ply with all applicable laws, regulations, and
direction. Compliance would be achieved by
the development and implementation of pro-
ject level design features as well as unit specif-
ic design features identified through the scop-
ing process, ongoing effects analysis, and con-
tract implementation.
Prior to the Caribou Fire, there were approxi-
mately 3,951 acres of identified old growth in
the project area. Based on initial observations
of the burn severity 2,211 of those acres no
longer meet the definition of old growth.
They do not contain enough live trees per acre
that are both old enough and large enough,
and/or they do not contain enough live trees
per acre to meet the stocking criteria. To date,
830 acres have not been surveyed, and 910
acres are anticipated to meet the definition of
old growth into the future. Of the 2,211 acres
that previously met the old growth definition,
approximately 1,762 acres are proposed for sal-
vage. Each of the pre-fire old growth stands
that are proposed for salvage activities would
be carefully examined prior to including them
in a timber sale contract. This would verify
that the stands no longer meet the criteria for
old growth. Any stands that were found to still
meet the definition of old growth would be re-
moved from the salvage project. No activities
are proposed in old growth stands in the burn
area that still meet the definition of old
growth.
Salvage units were not considered in MA 5a,
Inventoried Roadless Areas, grizzly bear core
habitat, remaining lynx multi-story forage
habitat, areas that did not burn and areas with
DETERMINING PROPOSED
HARVEST AREAS
Proposed harvest is located in areas where sal-
vage is economically feasible and potential im-
pacts to forest resources would be minimized.
To accomplish this, the interdisciplinary team
focused on forest stands with the highest per-
centage of dead trees or trees in the process of
dying. These stands have the most potential to
be restored to the desired conditions described
in the Forest Plan. The salvage area was further
narrowed by excluding salvage areas that did
not have reasonable access. Due to projected
lower economic value of burned trees, expen-
sive logging methods such as helicopter yarding
were not included in this proposal.
Photo by H. Burow
7
low levels of tree mortality, or on lands other
than National Forest System Lands. Some ac-
tivities have been proposed in a limited num-
ber of Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas
(RHCAs) in order to protect infrastructure and
provide for safe public travel.
Strips of land on either side of roads open to
public motorized use within the fire perimeter
were identified for hazard tree removal be-
cause of the need to ensure public safety along
these routes. Hazard tree removal activities
were also identified in areas that could be
reached from existing roads that are open to
administrative use. Hazard trees classified as
having an imminent or likely failure potential
would be felled along the roads and trails to
ensure public safety.
This proposed action contains units with open-
ings larger than forty acres. Where natural cat-
astrophic events such as fire, windstorms, or
insect and disease attacks have occurred, 40
acres may be exceeded without 60-day public
review and Regional Forester approval, provid-
ed the public is notified and the environmen-
tal analysis supports the decision.
Determining Proposed Fuel Treatments
Additional acres were identified for proposed
fuels reduction treatments which were not in-
cluded as salvage opportunities due to the lack
of economic value in the dead and dying trees.
These units are all located within the wildland
urban interface and were proposed based on
expected fuel loadings that would exceed
those desired for coarse woody debris and
snag retention purposes.
Specific unit design features or mitigation
measures may be added during the analysis.
Proposed Action
Table 2 displays acres proposed for harvest by
logging system, and other proposed restora-
tion activities.
Table 2. Activity Summary
Salvage by Logging System Acres
Tractor 3936
Cable Yarding 996
Fuels Treatment 88
Total Salvage Acres 5268
Other activities
Roadside Hazard Tree Removal 48.7 Miles of Road
Reforestation without salvage 1175 Acres
Riparian Planting 7.1 linear Miles of Stream
(approx. 44 acres)
Soil Restoration 331 Acres
8
Salvage Operations
Salvage harvest is proposed on 5,291 acres.
Dead and dying trees are the focus of the sal-
vage effort. Much of the Caribou Fire burned
with high severity, so assessing tree mortality
is straightforward. It is often the case that no
living foliage remains. This may be the result
of either tree crowns being completely con-
sumed by the fire or from surface fire intensi-
ty sufficient to completely scorch and kill the
conifer needles. In other instances, foliage
appears green yet the trees sustained signifi-
cant damage to the cambiums and/or crowns
such that they are dead or there is a high
probability that they will die within two years.
Tree survivability for fire-affected
trees is being assessed using the Post-
Fire Assessment of Tree Status report
prepared by Region 1 for 2017 Fire
Salvage efforts in the Region (Hood
and others 2017) to determine dead
and dying trees. Trees that are pre-
dicted to survive the fire would not be
felled or removed except for inci-
dental individuals that are deter-
mined to pose a safety risk (either to
operations in salvage units or within
roadside hazard reduction areas) or if
necessary to create landings or within
skid trails.
Most merchantable dead and dying
trees would be cut and removed from
salvage areas. Snag retention will fol-
low guidelines based on biophysical
setting as described in the Forest Plan
(see Table 4 associated with FW-GDL-
VEG-04). Per Forest Plan guidelines
(FW-GDL-VEG-05), snag retention
would be grouped, favor retention of
large diameter individuals from the
more persistent species (ponderosa
pine, western larch, and cedar) and those with
evidence of use by woodpeckers or other wild-
life. In units with more live trees per acre,
those trees would also be left if it is deter-
mined they would not succumb to secondary
agents.
The Caribou Fire resulted in extensive open-
ings with very little or no live forest canopy.
The proposed salvage units occur within areas
of moderate and high mortality, which are
now considered openings. Locations where
salvage of dead and dying trees occurs would
appear more open than those that are not sal-
vaged. The proposed salvage activities com-
Photo by H. Burow
Example Stand
This stand in the Caribou fire area contains very few of trees that are expected to live because of the fire intensity in the understory and the thin bark of the species that are present. Trees that are predicted to survive would not be removed unless they are de-termined to pose a safety risk or if necessary to re-move for implementation.
Photo by M. Strom
9
monly occur within openings that exceed
40 acres in size.
Some proposed acres will eventually be
dropped during project layout and imple-
mentation. For example, it is likely that
small springs, rock outcrops, or other mi-
crosites will be located in the proposed
treatment areas. Other areas may be
eliminated because they are too steep for
ground based equipment and do not have
the topography or proper access suitable
for cable yarding.
Salvage activities respond to the purpose
and need to re-establish forested condi-
tions and/or facilitate recovery to meet
management objectives outlined in the
Forest Plan and recover the economic val-
ue of forest products in a timely manner
to contribute to employment and income
in local communities and avoid loss of
commodity value. Salvage activities
would also mitigate threats to natural re-
sources by removing hazard trees and
excess down woody material that could
scour streams and impact infrastructure,
reduce fuels on the landscape, and pre-
pare the site for reforestation.
Roadside Hazard Tree Felling and
Removal
Within the project area, there are approxi-
mately 48.7 miles of yearlong open roads
or yearlong restricted roads
(administrative use) that are proposed for
roadside hazard tree treatment. These
areas are proposed for hazard tree felling,
with the merchantable portions of the
hazard trees available for salvage
(removal). See attached maps. Such
roadside hazard tree treatments would
extend up to 200’ from the identified trav-
Roadside hazard tree treatments would extend up to
200 ft. from the identified travel routes and would
include primarily dead and dying trees but also lesser
amounts of fire-damaged but potentially surviving
trees that pose a risk to falling on the identified
roadways.
Roadside Hazard
Example
Photo by H. Burow
10
el routes and would include primarily dead
and dying trees but also lesser amounts of fire
-damaged but potentially surviving trees that
pose a risk of falling on the identified road-
ways. Live hazard trees would be identified
using the Field Guide for
Danger Tree Identification
and Response (Toupin and
others 2008).
In RHCAs where felled
trees pose a risk to block
road drainage structures,
trees may be removed by
equipment that does not
leave the road surface or is
located outside the RHCA.
Hazard tree removal re-
sponds to the purpose and
need to reduce hazards
threatening human health
and safety.
Fuels Treatments
Fuels Reduction following
Salvage
All stands proposed for sal-
vage activities would be an-
alyzed after material with
economic value has been
removed from the site. If
the remaining fuels
(consisting of dead or dying
trees and shrubs that are
either standing or down,
and/or branches and tops
left from harvest activities
due to breakage) exceed
levels required to meet For-
est Plan direction and guid-
ance for course woody de-
bris and snag retention, fuels reduction treat-
ments may be prescribed. These treatments
may include cutting of dead and dying trees,
jackpot burning of fuel concentrations, masti-
cation, excavator or hand piling of residual
Photo by H. Burow
FUELS IN THE CARIBOU
AREA
These photos show examples of areas proposed for fuels re-duction in the WUI. In these areas, the fire killed much of the understory while leaving the larger overstory trees intact. The fuels created by the understory mortality would be reduced, therefore lowering the risk of hazardous fuels close to homes and private land, and protecting the remaining overstory trees from future high severity burn conditions. Photos by H. Bu-row
11
slash and burning of the resultant piles. All
burning operations would cooperate with fed-
eral, state, tribal, and local air quality agencies
as appropriate in order to meet applicable air
quality requirements.
Post salvage fuel treatments respond to the
purpose and need to re-establish forested con-
ditions and/or facilitate recovery to meet man-
agement objectives outlined in the Forest Plan.
Fuels treatments would also mitigate threats
to natural resources by reducing fuels on the
landscape.
Fuels Reduction following Roadside Hazard
Tree Felling and Removal
If fuels conditions following roadside hazard
tree felling and removal activities are antici-
pated to exceed levels desired to meet Forest
Plan direction and guidance for coarse woody
debris retention and/or other resource needs,
fuels reduction treatments may be prescribed.
These treatments may include required whole
tree yarding, lop and scatter of tops and limbs,
hand piling or excavator piling and burning of
the resultant piles.
Fuels reduction following roadside hazard tree
felling and removal responds to the purpose
and need to reduce hazards threatening hu-
man health and safety. Fuels treatments would
also mitigate threats to natural resources by
reducing fuels on the landscape
Fuels Reduction in the WUI
Some stands within the fire perimeter are an-
ticipated to have little to no economic value in
the dead and dying trees, and are being pro-
posed for fuels reduction treatments. Should a
market exist at the time of treatment, attempts
will be made to utilize existing material. Areas
proposed for this treatment are located within
the Wildland Urban Interface and generally
consist of patchy or continuous mortality in
the trees that are too small to provide forest
products. A total of 88 acres are proposed for
this kind of treatment. Burn severity in many
of these areas was moderate to light, leaving
branches and needles intact, but killing the
trees due to high percentages of needle scorch.
Other areas burned with high severity, con-
suming the needles and small branches, but
leaving densely spaced small diameter stems.
These areas of mortality are expected to result
in undesirable fuel loads within close proximi-
ty to private land and homes. Fuels reduction
treatments in the WUI may include cutting of
dead and dying trees, removal of fuels from
the site, jackpot burning of fuel concentra-
tions, mastication, excavator or hand piling of
residual slash and burning of the resultant
piles. These units would adhere to Forest Plan
direction and guidance for coarse woody de-
bris and snag retention levels. All burning op-
erations will cooperate with federal, state, trib-
al, and local air quality agencies as appropriate
in order to meet applicable air quality require-
ments.
Fuels reduction in the WUI responds to the
purpose and need to reduce hazards threaten-
ing human health and safety and would also
mitigate threats to natural resources by reduc-
ing fuels on the landscape.
Reforestation
In order to ensure the recovery of forested
conditions comprised of a desirable mix of spe-
cies, planting is proposed both within and out-
side of salvage and hazard tree treatment are-
as. During reconnaissance, many of the pro-
posed salvage units have an identified need for
planting given that surviving trees are rare or
absent. Planting would trend the developing
young stands toward meeting the Forest Plan’s
12
desired condition to increase the relative pro-
portion of long-lived early seral species such
as western white pine, ponderosa
pine, western larch, and whitebark
pine (FW-DC-VEG-01) which tend
to be longer lived and more re-
sistant to fire and insects and dis-
ease as opposed to shade tolerant or short
-lived species.
Coarse-scale reforestation needs have
been developed for the entire Caribou
Fire area on the NFS lands on the Rex-
ford Ranger District. Reforestation needs
will continue to be refined during the
analysis process but initial analysis has
identified nearly 6,000 acres in need of
planting on the Rexford Ranger District
within the Caribou Fire perimeter. In ad-
dition to planting within harvested areas,
varying levels of tree planting would oc-
cur where the fire burned with moderate or
high severity in areas where no tree removal
is planned, such as riparian areas and high
elevation sites that have the potential to sup-
port whitebark pine. Species mixes would
consist of native species appropriate for the
given site conditions and produced from lo-
cally-adapted seed sources. Species to be
planted may include: ponderosa pine, western
larch, western white pine, whitebark pine,
Douglas-fir, western red cedar, Engelmann
spruce, as well as riparian shrub and tree spe-
cies.
Reforestation activities respond to the purpose
and need to re-establish forested conditions
and/or facilitate recovery to meet manage-
ment objectives outlined in the Forest Plan.
Riparian Planting
Riparian planting would be conducted in high
severity fire areas near streams in order to fa-
cilitate vegetative recovery. Plantings could
consist of red-osier dogwood, willow, aspen,
and black cottonwood, depending on availa-
bility. These species are well suited for ripari-
an areas and provide good root structures for
stream bank stability, as well as shade for the
stream. Planting would occur within 25 feet of
the stream bank, with brush species closer to
the stream and tree species a little further
away.
Riparian planting responds to the purpose and
need to reduce hazards threatening human
health and safety and re-establish forested
conditions and/or facilitate recovery to meet
management objectives outlined in the Forest
Plan.
Soil Restoration
This activity would be undertaken in order to
restore soil productivity and to prepare the
soil to achieve a fully stocked stand. Approxi-
Photo showing amount of burned
material in the RHCA. Photo by H. Burow
Photo by H. Burow
13
mately six proposed units currently exceed 15
percent detrimental soil disturbance. Review
of archived data records and aerial photos re-
vealed that these areas were heavily disturbed
during harvest operations in 1959. During
these 1959 operations several bench-cut skid
trails that contour the hillsides were construct-
ed. Through this project there is an opportuni-
ty to salvage the dead trees within these units
and then restore the hillslopes to a more natu-
ral state. Skid trail re-contouring may include
pulling fill material from below the skid trail
and placing it onto the skid trail to restore the
natural hillslope, ripping and de-compacting
soil, mixing organic material into the soil, and
providing drainage features to avoid pond-
ing water in midslope areas.
Soil restoration responds to the purpose
and need to re-establish forested condi-
tions and/or facilitate recovery to meet
management objectives outlined in the
Forest Plan and will mitigate threats to
natural resources.
Temporary Roads
The implementation of this project would
require building approximately 10.35
miles of temporary roads to facilitate har-
vest activities (see attached maps). Tem-
porary roads are roads that are construct-
ed to access landings and are rehabilitated
upon completion of all harvest activities.
The temporary roads would be re-
contoured after use to the approximate
shape of the surrounding terrain. These
roads would also be closed to the general
public using berms, gates, or debris placed
near the entrance and along the first por-
tion of the road. These temporary road
segments are generally on dry ridgetop
locations and are not located in wet/moist are-
as.
To minimize impacts to the environment and
natural resources, pre-existing temporary road
alignments and alignments of non-system
roads would be utilized wherever practicable.
There are cases where it is not feasible or it is
not desirable to use the same alignments or
landings. In some places, in order to protect
residual trees, soil, and water, new temporary
roads are proposed to access landings where
existing system roads and old alignments are
not adequate for accessing strategic locations
on the ground.
1963 AERIAL PHOTO
This image from 1963 shows the bench cuts
from the 1959 harvest that are contributing
to detrimental soil disturbance in the project
area. Through this project, there is an oppor-
tunity to restore the hillslopes.
Photo from Rexford Ranger District Archives
14
The attached map shows the possi-
ble locations of the temporary
roads for this project. The exact
locations of temporary roads may
change during the layout phase of
this project, but the overall mile-
age would be the same or less.
Managing the Road System
Road maintenance and reconstruc-
tion is needed along the haul
routes to implement the proposed
action. Motorized access would re-
main unchanged. No new road
construction or road decommis-
sioning are proposed in this pro-
ject.
To support large trucks and equip-
ment, some road reconstruction
and typical road maintenance
would need to occur on approxi-
mately 60 miles of existing Nation-
al Forest System roads. These ac-
tivities could include clearing
brush, blading and shaping the
road, cleaning ditches, maintaining
or improving drainage structures
such as culverts, surface water de-
flectors or other drainage systems,
and improving the road surface. If
a restricted road is opened and
used for implementation, it would
be open to administrative use only. Only road
improvements needed to complete the treat-
ments would be implemented; if a unit drops
from the project, the associated road work
would be dropped as well.
Emergency Situation Determination
The Caribou Fire Salvage and Reforestation
Project will be requesting an emergency situa-
tion determination (ESD) from the Chief of
the Forest Service. If an ESD is granted, this
project would not be subject to the pre-
decisional objection process. Once analysis is
completed and a decision is signed by the Re-
sponsible Official, implementation could
begin immediately. Fire killed timber quickly
loses value. By implementing the project im-
mediately after a decision is signed, the Forest
Photo by H. Burow
CARIBOU FIRE AREA
More photos from the fire area. Clockwise from top:
1. High severity burn in drainage. Photo by H. Burow.
2. High severity burn in previously harvested unit.
Photo by B. Donner. 3. Burned stand with remaining
fuels. Photo by H. Burow.
15
could:
Allow for the greatest amount of
employment and income in the
local communities,
Offer the salvageable material at
its highest value to assure the tim-
ber sales have a high likelihood of
attracting potential purchasers,
Quickly reduce hazards to the pub-
lic and prevent damage to infra-
structure,
Recover more commodity value
from the salvage portion of the
project in order to implement the
fuels reduction, reforestation, ri-
parian planting, and soils restora-
tion components of the proposal.
The Forest recognizes that an ESD
would allow the project to proceed
without the pre-decisional objection
process, an important opportunity for
public review. A public involvement
plan has been developed to reach in-
terested citizens. To allow opportunity
for public input, the interdisciplinary
team plans to hold two open houses,
one in the community of West Koote-
nai and one in Eureka. Depending on
public interest, a field trip will be
made available in the spring when
weather and road conditions in the
project area allow for safe travel. Dis-
play ads will be placed in the local To-
bacco Valley News, as well as legal
advertisements in The Missoulian, the
newspaper of record. Updates will be
posted on the Kootenai National For-
est webpage as project milestones are
reached.
Timelines
A decision for this project is expected in sum-
mer of 2018.
More Information
Please contact the Eureka Ranger Station for
more information regarding the Caribou Fire
Salvage and Restoration Project.
View from the Caribou Fire of the West
Kootenai, Lake Koocanusa, and the Tobacco
Valley. Photo by H. Burow
VIEW FROM CARIBOU
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