Forest supervisor: Timber harvests are reaching or exceeding goals

The Flathead National Forest should sell about 30 million to 31 million board feet of timber this year, Forest supervisor Chip Weber said recently.

The Forest has reached or exceeded its harvest goals for each of the last 13 years, and the harvests have been light on the land, he said.

Best management practices audits were recently conducted at several locations across the Forest. BMP standards are rules for how timber is harvested and how roads that service the timber are managed to avoid siltation and water-quality degradation.

Audited areas received a four out of five rating, and two areas actually scored five out of five ratings — the highest possible score. Managers at one project took great pains to preserve fish habitat in a nearby stream through the use of specialized weirs designed to stem erosion. Weber credited his engineering and planning staff for their work in designing the structures.

Today’s Forest Service projects now look at not only timber harvest potential but management on an ecosystem scale when possible, Weber explained.

Still, there are challenges to nearly every decision the Forest makes. Most recently, proposed timber projects at the south end of the Hungry Horse Reservoir have been challenged in court by environmental groups. In the past, multiple-use groups sued the Forest Service over road closures.

Weber said it’s all part of the public process.

“I like the fact that my job is not easy,” Weber said,

Weber has been at the helm of the sprawling Flathead National Forest for a little more than two years now. He recently held a public discussion on Forest issues during breakfast at the Perkins restaurant in Evergreen. Topics ranged from recreation to timber harvest.

Forest officials are examining the possibility of creating more recreational opportunities along the Hungry Horse Reservoir, such as adding campgrounds and possibly more commercial guiding opportunities. The Forest added a snowmobile guiding license to the area this winter.

But Weber cautioned that the plan is not to flood the Forest with commercial outfitters. The Forest already has 129 permitted outfitters and guides, 63 recreational residences and 1.3 million acres of wilderness.

It also has 219 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers and a whopping 2,249 miles of trails. Trail maintenance alone is a daunting task, and Weber credited volunteer organizations like the Back Country Horsemen of the Flathead and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation for their work maintaining trails.

“Without that partnership, people couldn’t enjoy the Forest,” he said.

Weber said he hopes to hold public breakfast meetings once every couple of months. The recent meeting was attended by nine people with interests ranging from the timber industry to politicians, bird watchers and wilderness advocates.

In the coming years, the Forest will begin writing a new long-range plan which no doubt will draw public interest. Weber said he expects that planning document will evolve from a collaborative public process.