Forest admits thinning is ugly

The Forest Service admits the results of a thinning project at the Devil Creek Campground isn’t what they expected.

“Honestly, it didn’t come out very well,” Hungry Horse/Glacier View district ranger Rob Davies said.

Davies said the Forest Service wanted to remove trees from the campground area and the adjacent trailhead because mountain pine beetles had killed the lodgepole pines there. The dead trees could have fallen on a camper, he said. The popular campground is located along U.S. 2 a few miles west of Marias Pass.

The goal was to remove diseased trees and leave healthy ones behind. The Forest Service contracted out the job, and the logging took place last winter.

But in the meantime, a wind storm blew down many of the remaining trees. The end result is that a large portion of the campground looks like it was clear cut.

In addition, Davies noted, the winter logging work left a lot of slash and debris on the ground, making the site look even uglier.

Davies said the Forest Service plans on cleaning up the debris, grinding off the stumps and planting shrubs and new trees. He said the campground will heal and start to look better once the shrubs take off, but it will take awhile — probably a few years.

Davies admitted that communication between the recreation and timber side of the project should have been better. He said it will be in the future.