Timber sale planned for Lupfer Loop Road

The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has issued a scoping notice for a planned timber harvest off the Lupfer Loop Road near Olney.

Work on the sale design for the timber harvest in the Stillwater Unit is set to begin this spring, with sale activities potentially beginning in the fall of 2018 and extending into 2020.

The proposed sale, known as Lupfer Morrill, is located south of Olney. The area is to the east and southeast of Lower Stillwater Lake on the east side of U.S. Highway 93.

The sale is expected to result in the harvest of 500,000 to 1 million board feet of timber.

The work will apply silvicultural prescriptions in the Lupfer area to promote biodiversity as called for in the State Forest Land Management Plan and implement the next phases of past treatments, according to the scoping notice.

The goal in harvesting, DNRC notes, is to create openings and growing sites primarily for western larch to achieve the desired future condition of forest cover types — the Lupfer area should be represented by a western larch and Douglas-fir forest type with a mix of western white pine. Tree growth is planned to be promoted with the removal of seed trees where the removal of larger, overtopping trees would benefit the trees regenerating from past harvests.

Some temporary road construction may be needed to access the project area.

Comments on the proposal are due by April 12 to Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Attn: Les Thomas, P.O. Box 164, Olney, Montana 59927, or email: LesThomas@mt.gov, or call (406) 881-2665.