Commission offers support of state funding for two forest projects

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is soliciting projects through the end of the month that would be funded under the state’s recently released Montana Forest Action Plan.

Last year, former governor Steve Bullock allocated $4.5 million from the state’s Fire Suppression Fund to be used to help pay for on-the-ground work across ownership boundaries. The state funding would be matched by USDA Forest Service grants.

The state grants are expected to range from $50,000 to $500,000.

Two projects in the Bitterroot Valley were submitted for potential funding. Both include fuel reduction and forest health projects on the Bitterroot National Forest that have been in the works for several years.

The Gold Calf project proposes to reduce fuels and address forest health issues on federal, state and private lands in the Willow Creek area east of Corvallis. About 1,000 acres on the state’s Calf Creek Wildlife Management Area and 835 acres of private land would be treated.

If funded, some of the money could also help pay for work on the adjacent Bitterroot National Forest as part of an updated large vegetative management project called Gold Butterfly. Last summer, forest officials withdrew the proposal for treating 7,376 acres following a lawsuit by two environmental groups.

Stevensville District Ranger Steve Brown said a supplemental environmental review to address issues raised in the lawsuit is being completed. The hope is first timber sales of Gold Butterfly project could be put out for bid by summer.

“The timeliness of having the Gold Butterfly there is too good of an opportunity to let pass up,” Brown said. “This would allow treatment on all lands no matter the ownership. It would allow us to accomplish true landscape management and mitigate fire behavior.”

Non-commercial thinning and prescribed fire are expensive. Brown said there is an economy of scale that can be accomplished if all the work takes place at the same time.

“It’s kind of like the stars have lined up on this,” Brown said. “All of us have wanted to get this work accomplished and then the Montana Forest Action Plan had some funding…This project lines up with all of the plan’s objectives.”

The second proposal recommended by the commission is in the West Fork of the Bitterroot.

The Bitterroot Forest’s Piquett Creek Project located five miles southwest of Connor proposes to treat up to 3,000 acres. There are 96 private structures, including Triple Creek Ranch and the Trapper Creek Job Corps Center adjacent to the national forest lands.

A USDA Wildfire Risk to Communities study identified Connor as the most at-risk community to wildfire in Montana. Another study named Ravalli County as the number one at-risk county in the state.

West Fork District Ranger Seth Carbonari said the proposal presented to the state includes introducing some prescribed fire on the Triple Creek Ranch.

“This additional funding would allow us to accelerate and extend the fuels reduction work in that area,” Carbonari said. “We would put a lot of that funding into non-commercial fuel reduction and prescribed burning…The money would help us move forward in a timely manner.”

“The Bitterroot is very much a priority area,” Carbonari said. “We have been getting support from our partners in the DNRC and the county to push this work forward.”

Ravalli County Commissioner Jeff Burrows said both projects would help protect homes in the wildland-urban interface.

“We’ve been fortunate the last few years with wildfire,” Burrows said. “We’re going to have another bad fire season and then everyone will be screaming for forest management, especially in the wildland/urban interface.”

“We want to see some protection for those areas and create some kind of fire break that will slow the fire down. It might not be enough to save homes, but it could give people enough time to escape and save lives.”

So far, Burrows said Bitterrooot Forest officials have proposed projects that make sense and aren’t detrimental to the resource.

“They have been good stewards,” he said. “We have a great supervisor and great district rangers. It seems like everything they are putting forward makes great sense.”

DNRC Montana Forest Action Plan Project Manager Wyatt Frampton said the agency plans to notify successful applicants in late February or early March.

While it’s too early to know how many will apply, Frampton said there has been a good deal of interest in the grant program. The funding the program receives from the state’s fire suppression fund in the future will depend on the balance left in the fund following fire seasons.

In the future, Frampton said the agency will look for partners to help fund the program that works to reduce fire risk.