Fiber optic line install proposed for forest service road

CenturyLink has applied with the Flathead National Forest to install fiber optic line to Bootjack Lake Road area residents.

The company would like to amend their existing special use permit in order to install about 7,000 feet of buried fiber optic telecommunication line adjacent to Bootjack Lake Road in the Tally Lake Ranger District, according to a forest service scoping letter.

The forest service has reviewed the project and says it meets within a categorical exclusion category, but is taking comments on the project by Sept. 20.

About 5,000 feet of line would be on forest service land, and about 2,000 feet would cross private land through a forest service easement.

The line would run along Bootjack Lake Road from Farm to Market Road, west of Whitefish.

The cable would be installed using boring, trenching and plowing in a 36-inch deep, 6- to 8-inch wide trench located between the road edge and the ditch, in an already disturbed area.

The work is planned to be completed over two months in October and November of this year.

To reduce the chance of transferring invasive plant species, washing equipment prior to work and seeding disturbed ground would be required. The road would also have to be returned to standards described in CenturyLink’s special use permit.

Comments on the project must be submitted by Sept. 20 to fs-comments-northern-flathead-tally-lake@usda.gov or Tally Lake Ranger District, Att. Bootjack CenturyLink Project, 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901. Project documents are available at www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56790.

Question can be directed to Tami MacKenzie, planning team leader, at 758-3508 or tamara.mackenzie@usda.gov.