Flathead Forest forges ahead with Forest Plan

The Flathead National Forest continues to forge ahead with a new Forest Plan after years of delays, lawsuits and changes in administration. This time, however, it looks like a plan may get completed.

Last week, Forest officials held the last of a series of field trips to give stakeholders an on-the-ground view of current conditions and issues at hand. A bus packed with interested citizens toured the North Fork to talk about wild and scenic rivers, inventoried roadless areas and wilderness.

The North Fork area of the Forest has more than 77,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas, some of which could be suitable for a wilderness designation.

The proposed Forest Plan in 2006 recommended about 52,000 acres in the Mount Thompson Seton area for wilderness. In this go-around, the Forest plans to work with collaborative groups through a series of meetings in the coming months to discuss not only wilderness but a myriad of land uses and issues as they begin to hammer out an actual plan.

One user group that has made itself known in the past few years is mountain bike users. While they enjoy a primitive back woods experience, they can’t ride in designated wilderness areas where mechanized uses, motorized or not, are not allowed.

The Forest Plan will not address management of the three forks of the Flathead River. The North Fork in particular has seen an increase in use in the past few years, as the region has had some hot, dry summers and dust abatement and other improvements on the North Fork Road has made travel much easier.

The North Fork of the Flathead is jointly managed by Glacier National Park and the Flathead Forest. The two have begun discussions about a river management plan, but that plan will be separate from the Forest Plan, noted Colter Pence, the wilderness, rivers and trails manager for the Hungry Horse and Glacier View ranger districts. Funding to develop the river plan, however, hasn’t been obtained yet.

After all the meetings and public input, a draft Forest Plan should be released by June next year, said Forest Plan revision team leader Joe Krueger. After the draft is mulled over and public comments are received, a final plan will be released, and a record of decision is expected by fall 2016.

Unless it’s canceled due to the federal government shut down, anyone who missed the field trips can attend an open house at the Flathead Forest supervisor’s offices, 650 Wolfpack Way in Kalispell, on Thursday, Oct. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.