Public input sought on Beaver Creek restoration

The Swan Lake Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest is starting the planning process for a restoration project on Forest Service lands in the Beaver Creek Planning Area.

This project will be a collaborative effort. Everyone is invited to discuss the Beaver planning area and provide input to further guide project development at a public meeting scheduled for May 2, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall in Condon.

The area under consideration is located in the southern most portion of the Swan Lake Ranger District, bordered by Lindbergh Lake and the Mission Mountains Wilderness to the west, the Swan River to the north, Montana 83 to the east, and the Lolo National Forest to the south.

Restoration activities under consideration include:

• Road decommissioning

• Rehabilitation of stream habitat and critical wetlands

• Hazardous fuel reductions

• Vegetation treatments to improve forest health and resilience to disturbance

• Restoration of old growth conditions, and other actions consistent with the Flathead Forest Plan and the Forest Landscape Restoration Act of 2009.

Public input will help guide project development and focus of management activities on National Forest lands.

Contact Joleen Dunham, Planning Team Leader, with questions regarding the project or the planned upcoming meeting at jdunham@fs.fed.us. or 837-7510, or mail Attn: Beaver Creek Project, Swan Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.