by Eve Byron, Independent Record
A proposed vegetation project three miles north of Lincoln has been reduced by about 2,000 acres, but it still is raising some eyebrows.
Amber Kamps, the Lincoln District ranger, said they’ve cut back on some of the proposed logging and burning on the Stonewall Vegetation Project, which is located about three miles north of Lincoln. That’s reduced the size of the proposed project area from about 8,500 acres to 6,500 acres.
Kamps noted that they’ve been working with community members on the project for the past three years, and they’re anxious to get the work accomplished because they believe it will lessen the threat to homes in the event of a wildfire and create conditions that allow the reestablishment of fire as a natural process on the landscape.
The treatments also are designed to improve the mix of vegetation across the landscape to make it more resilient to insects like the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The Helena National Forest asked the public for questions and concerns about the initial proposal in 2010 and released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Monday. It’s accepting comments on the proposal until June 17, and hopes to have a final EIS early in 2014.
“Generally, what I hear is ‘When are you going to get it done?’ ” Kamps said. “This community understands fire and has lived with it. They are concerned about how fire-wise their community is; they’re doing mitigation work on their own property and they would like the Forest Service to take care of theirs.”
Gary Burnett, executive director of the Blackfoot Challenge and a member of the Lincoln Restoration Committee, echoed those sentiments.
“The Lincoln Restoration Committee is looking forward to the restoration and fire management treatments that the Stonewall project will deliver for the local community and the nation,” Burnett said. “We greatly appreciate the collaborative spirit of the Helena National Forest and Lincoln Ranger District staff.”
But only 30 of the 80 responses to the initial proposal were in support of the initial activities. Forest officials characterized most of the negative responses as wanting language clarified or listed elements pertinent to a specific resource.
Mike Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said they listed numerous concerns, including the large number of animals in the area that are protected under the Endangered Species Act, like grizzly bear, lynx and bull trout, as well as white bark pines. He wondered about the distance the project is from the community, saying that researchers have reported that only thinning forests less than two miles from a home has any impact on defensible space.
“I’m sure there may be a home or two closer to the project area, but one house doesn’t make it a community,” Garrity said. “Their own research says that the only way to generally save a house is to develop defensible space around it by cutting trees within 150 feet of your house and having a metal roof. Anything they do beyond that is not really material.”
He also questioned whether the Helena National Forest would make money on the logging as it is claiming, saying that on average the Forest Service loses about $1,400 per acre on commercial timber sales if it accounts for the time employees put into projects.
“With the sequestration, President Obama may be cutting the Forest Service’s logging budget be-cause they lose money with their commercial logging,” Garrity said. “And then they’re also going to be reducing elk hiding cover, so altogether they’ll be spending several million dollars to ruin elk habitat. The public needs to know that. They’re already not in compliance with the Forest Plan for elk hiding cover.”
Garrity also noted that the project area is home to wolverines, which are expected to be listed in the fall as an animal that falls under the Endangered Species Act.
“They don’t have a conservation strategy like they do for grizzly bear and lynx, and they need to figure out what the will be before they do this timber sale,” Garrity said.
Concerns also were raised that the Forest Service has limited experience implementing prescribed fire in mixed-severity fire regimes, and Garrity noted that Kamps was in charge of a prescribed burn a few years ago that got out of control and burned a cabin.
Forest officials say they’d remove vegetation in areas adjacent to private land boundaries prior to burning to remove potential fuels. Pile burning is proposed to more closely manage areas to receive active burning.
According to the DEIS, ponderosa pine, western larch and aspen habitats are declining in the project area, and the history of fire suppression has created dangerous conditions. After the 2003 Lincoln Complex Fires, which burned about 36,000 acres and required a partial evacuation of the community of Lincoln, residents expressed a desire to see forest management designed to reduce the risk of future catastrophic events.
The Forest Service analyzed about 24,000 acres in the area and came up with a proposed alternative that now includes harvest treatments on 2,298 acres, followed by controlled burns. Prescribed fire also is proposed on about 3,565 acres within the Bear Marshall Scapegoat Swan Inventoried Roadless Area to promote ecological restoration of a mix of vegetation. Outside of the roadless area, about half a mile of road would be constructed for access, but later obliterated.
Forest Supervisor Kevin Riordan said the project is a collaborative effort with members of several groups working together to find solutions on the ground.
“Release of the DEIS is a significant accomplishment for the Southwest Crown of the Continent Col-laborative, Montana Forest Restoration Committee, and Lincoln Restoration Committee,” Riordan said.
He added that while he prefers the new alternative, modifications to any or all of the alternatives may be considered for the final EIS depending on comments received regarding this draft.
“The final decision may be different than my preferred alternative as presented in this document,” Riordan said in the DEIS.
The DEIS is available for review at the Forest Supervisor’s Office of the Helena National Forest at 2880 Skyway Drive in Helena and the Lincoln Ranger District at 1569 Highway 200 in Lincoln. Both the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena and the Lincoln Community Library also have copies available for review.
In addition, the DEIS is posted on the Forest webpage at www.fs.fed.us/r1/helena/projects. Hard-copies of the DEIS are available upon request.
Submit specific comments to Kamps by mailing them to 1569 Highway 200, Lincoln, MT, 59639; faxing them to (406) 362-4253; or emailing them to comments-northern-helena-lincoln@fs.fed.us and put “Stonewall DEIS” on the subject line.
Office hours, for those who wish to hand deliver their comments, are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information, contact Kamps at (406) 362-7000.
