Project calls for burns, timber harvest

Prescribed burns and timber harvesting is proposed for 1,884 acres in the Whitefish Range in an effort to reduce wildfire risks and increase resilience to insect and disease infestation, along with the development of 40 miles of new recreation trail.

The Taylor Hellroaring Project is being developed by the Flathead National Forest. The project is in the Tally Lake Ranger District in the Whitefish Face area, which runs from Haskill Basin to Werner Peak.

The forest held an open house last week in Whitefish to take comments on the proposal.

The project corresponds with the Whitefish Municipal Watershed Fuel Reduction project, which was approved in January. Both projects came forward from the Whitefish Face Working Group, which submitted a proposal to the forest in 2015 that supported treatments for the area and creating trails.

“This came from that collaborative group proposal,” project team leader Deb Bond said. “We took their project apart and split it into two pieces.”

The Taylor Hellroaring Project is in the scoping phase, according to Bond, an official proposed action should be released for comments in the fall and final decision could follow in January 2018. The earliest work would begin is summer of 2018, she noted.

Commercial thinning is proposed on 545 acres, clearcut harvest on 112 acres, 32 acres of shelterwood harvest and seed tree harvest is proposed on 465 acres.

About 730 acres within the project area is proposed for fuel reduction treatments with prescribed burning on 456 acres or other hazard fuel reduction treatments on 274 acres.

There hasn’t been much previous timber management in the area, said Adam Kane of the forest service.

“The main focal point will be to create insect- and disease-resistant stands,” he said.

Some timber harvest did occur in the area in the 1960s, according to the scoping document for the project. Only the northern tip of the project area recently experienced a fire — the Werner Peak fire burned about 730 acres of national forest land in 2001.

The project is aimed at addressing disease concerns in the forest, including increasing rust resistant western white pine and whitebark pine.

To facilitate the vegetation treatments, about 5 miles of roads could be developed then closed and placed in stored status for future use. Portions of these roads would be trail routes, and about .73 miles of temporary roads would be built and reclaimed following use.

Autumn Ela, landscape architect for the forest, said the timber harvest and burning project’s visual impacts have been studied from about 10 locations in and around Whitefish.

“The burns units will have the most visual impact,” she said. “When those areas are burning you’ll see smoke coming from that area, but those will regenerate relatively quickly — within 5 years.”

Ela said feedback from the community and private landowners adjacent to the project is important to create the design criteria to mitigate visual impacts.

“Some units have a high risk for visual impact,” she said. “We don’t all of a sudden want there to be a big open area that wasn’t there before.”

A component of the project, the creation of 40 new miles of trails and one new trailhead, drew a fair amount of interest during the open house last week.

Hans Castren, recreation officer at the Forest Service, said the forest service is unlikely to construct the trails but will be looking to partner with groups like the Whitefish Legacy Partners and the Flathead Area Mountain Bikers, formally known as the Flathead Fat Tires.

“It is unusual to have a project with this much recreation,” Castren said. “We’re looking at anybody that is interested in partnering with us. We should be able to secure partners once the project is approved.”

The Holbrook Overlook parking area would be upgraded to a designated trailhead including a vault toilet and an information kiosk. The trail is proposed to have a series of short loops in the Holbrook area adjacent to the trailhead.

Extended portions of the trail system along with forest service roads will provide access for trail users to the Ralph Thayer Memorial Recreation Trail, Smokey Range National Recreation Trail and Danny On Memorial Recreation Trail.

“Creating a loop trail system will provide a sense of destination,” Castren said. “Users will be able to pick trails and difficulty levels.”

Noah Bodman, with the Flathead Area Mountain Bikers, served on the Face Working Group. He said he is excited about the recreation component of the plan even for areas that aren’t great for mountain biking.

“The Ralph Thayer is a national trail and nothing connects to it — that’s doesn’t make sense,” he said. “The Ralph Thayer is a great jumping off point for backpackers for the Pacific Northwest [National Scenic Trail.]”

The Tally Lake Ranger District is accepting comments about this proposal until April 28.

Written, hand-delivered and oral comments can be delivered to Project Team Leader, Deb Bond at 406-758-5204, or at 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901, “attention Deb Bond”, or email comments to: comments-northern-flathead-tally-lake@fs.fed.us and include “Taylor Hellroaring” in the subject line. Additional information about this project can be found at the project website https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=50518