From the Wednesday, June 30, 2004 issue of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Flathead National Forest has released a unique draft proposal for managing national forest lands burned by last summer's Robert and Wedge Canyon fires in the North Fork Flathead Valley.
The draft environmental impact statement is unlike others for post-fire salvage work because it was developed under special legislation from Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.
The Flathead and Kootenai National Forest Act directed the forest to conduct "up-front" collaborative planning with the public, with the collaborative effort aimed at solving contentious issues before rather than after the planning process.
To expedite that process, the legislation mandated that the forest produce a single "action" approach to post-fire management. The Forest Service is typically required to develop multiple alternatives for forest management projects.
The forest's single-action approach calls for salvage timber harvest on 5,800 acres, or about 17 percent of the 34,000 acres of national forest lands burned by the Robert and Wedge Canyon fires.
The plan calls for tree planting on 1,350 acres, along with measures to curb the spread of bark beetles in and around the burned areas.
The proposal also calls for five miles of forest roads to be closed and about 15 miles of road to be permanently decommissioned to improve wildlife habitat security.
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