Rexford Ranger District

Kootenai National Forest

Lincoln County, Montana

CARIBOU FIRE SALVAGE AND

RESTORATION

2

In the summer of 2017, the Kootenai Nation-

al Forest experienced an unprecedented fire

season and tens of thousands of acres across

the Forest were impacted by wildland fire.

Substantial impacts to human safety, air

quality, recreation, wildlife habitat, water-

sheds, and general forest health were felt

across the Forest.

The Caribou Fire was detected on August 11,

2017 on the Three Rivers Ranger District and

eventually burned on to the Rexford Ranger

District on August 23. Approximately 24,753

acres burned, including lands in British Co-

lumbia, Canada, and lands managed by Mon-

tana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) and Mon-

tana Department of Natural Resources and

Conservation (DNRC), the Kootenai National

Forest, and private lands. The fire burned a

portion of the partially completed Young

Dodge timber sale. No salvage activities are

proposed for the portion of the fire that oc-

curred on the Three Rivers Ranger District.

The Caribou Fire burned with varying severi-

ty, leaving a mosaic of burn patterns across

the landscape that range from unburned is-

lands to areas where tree crowns were com-

pletely consumed. From a distance, some for-

est stands within the fire perimeter appear

green because the tree crowns were not

burned. Many of these stands will have high

levels of mortality because because the thin

barked tree species did not protect them from

the intense heat generated as the wildfire

burned through the uncharacteristically dry

fuels on the forest floor and upper layers of

the soil. Additionally, the burned areas have

an increased likelihood of bark beetle attack

which may cause additional mortality. In are-

as with a high burn severity, nearly all the

trees have died or are expected to die in the

near future.

This is a proposal to remove hazardous

trees, salvage dead and dying trees, and

plant seedlings in portions of the Caribou

Fire area. The project area is located 11-17

miles northwest of Eureka, Montana and

immediately west and north of the

community of West Kootenai, MT. The

project area consists of all or portions of

T37N, R28W, Sections 5-8 and 17-20, and

T37N, R29W, Sections 1-5, 8-17, 20-24, and

28, P.M.M in Lincoln County, Montana.

THE PROPOSED

ACTION

Photo by P. Price

3

Purpose of and Need for Action

The Caribou Fire has created a need to:

Reduce hazards threatening human health

and safety

The Forest Plan

seeks to maintain a

transportation sys-

tem that provides

safe and efficient

public and adminis-

trative access (FW-

DC-AR-07).

There is a need to

reduce high densities

of fire killed trees

near NFS roads,

trails, and developed

sites. If left stand-

ing, these trees pose

a risk to people working and recreating in the

area. Within the Caribou Fire burned area,

approximately 82 miles of National Forest

System Road are at elevated risks to hazards

including falling snags and fire weakened

trees. Approximately 17 miles are open to

public motorized travel. Over time, hazard

trees will continue to fall because of increased

defect, mortality, weather, and other environ-

mental factors.

Despite the burned conditions, public and ad-

ministrative use of the area is expected to in-

crease over the next five to ten years for mush-

room picking, firewood collection, timber sal-

vage, tree planting, Burned Area Emergency

Response (BAER) work, and other post-fire sta-

bilization and monitoring activities.

Although some hazard trees have been felled

along open roads, without a more substantial

effort to address high-risk trees, these hazards

will continue to affect safe access for recrea-

tion, and ongoing and future management ac-

tivities. There is a need to mitigate the hazards

to protect the health and safety of the public,

forest managers, and contractors conducting

land management ac-

tivities. Removing haz-

ard trees or felling

them and leaving

them onsite where

commercial harvest is

not consistent with res-

toration objectives,

would proactively miti-

gate many of these

risks.

The Caribou fire great-

ly reduced ground,

surface, and aerial

fuels within the fire

perimeter, therefore reducing the immediate

potential for high intensity fire behavior within

the area. However, fuel loads are expected to

increase over time as the trees killed by the fire

begin to fall down, vegetation re-grows, and

duff and litter layers rebuild. Forest Plan direc-

tion for fuels is to provide for firefighter and

public safety, reduce hazardous fuels within the

Wildland Urban Interface and other areas

where values are at risk, and reduce threats

from unplanned ignitions for the community

of the West Kootenai (FW-DC-FIRE-01, FW-DC-

FIRE-02, GA-DC-FIRE-KOO-01). Within the

next 5-15 years many of the dead trees will

have fallen, creating varying fuel loads depend-

ing on fire severity and pre-fire stand composi-

tion. If left untreated, these fuels could create a

continuous fuel bed consisting of both large

diameter fuels from large branches and tree

boles, and small diameter fuels from tops and

crowns that were killed but not consumed dur-

ing the fire. These conditions could

Photo by H. Burow

4

Purpose and Need (Cont.)

contribute to undesirable high intensity fire

behavior that threatens private land and the

safety of fire suppression personnel. Addition-

ally, dead trees that remain standing within

the fire perimeter may leave snag numbers

that far exceed that which is desirable per Forest-Plan direction. In these areas, fire suppression

personnel will be at much higher risk during

future wildfire events due to these elevated

snag levels. In order to reduce these future

risks, there is a need to reduce the amount of

fire killed fuels from the site.

There is a need to remove trees near riparian

areas with too many standing and down trees

that could potentially put too much woody

material into the water course. Too many logs

and other debris in the streams during spring

run-off conditions could scour stream banks

and negatively affect infrastructure.

Re-establish forested conditions and/or fa-

cilitate recovery to meet management ob-

jectives outlined in the Forest Plan.

The current composition of the forest, both at

stand and landscape levels, deviates considera-

bly from the desired conditions identified in

the Forest Plan, specifically FW-DC-VEG-01.

The desired condition is to increase western

white pine, ponderosa pine, western larch and

whitebark pine. The Caribou Fire caused high

levels of tree mortality. In areas that burned

at high severity, there is little to no seed source

remaining for natural tree regeneration. In

order to plant more early seral and fire re-

sistant species, treatment is needed to prepare

the site for tree planting and to allow the for-

ested stands to be safely planted. Site prepara-

tion will expedite recovery towards desired

conditions in comparison to natural processes.

FW-DC-RIP-05 expresses the desire for re-

covery of Riparian Habitat Conservation

Areas (RHCAs) following watershed dis-

turbance. Site preparation and planting of

riparian species within the RHCAs will ex-

pedite recovery of the riparian areas to-

ward Forest Plan desired conditions in

comparison to natural processes.

Recover the economic value of forest

products in a timely manner to con-

tribute to employment and income in

local communities and avoid loss of

commodity value.

As described by the Forest Plan (FW-DC-

TBR-01), it is desired that salvage of dead

and dying trees capture as much of the eco-

CARIBOU FIRE

These pictures are from various stages of the Caribou Fire.

Clockwise from top: 1. Aerial view of the fire after it crossed

on to the Rexford Ranger District. (Photo by A. Osborn) 2.

View of Caribou smoke column from the Incident Command

Post. (Photo by M. Burow) 3. VLAT retardant drop on Caribou

Fire (Photo by A. Osborn)

5

nomic value of the wood as possible

while retaining the amount needed for

wildlife habitat, soil productivity, and

ecosystem functions. The proposed sal-

vage units occur where enough mer-

chantable timber exists to provide an

economically viable timber sale. The

revenue generated by the timber sales

would capture the commodity value

necessary to accomplish project objec-

tives while contributing to employ-

ment and income in local communi-

ties. Time sensitive, viable preparation

of timber sales is critical to ensure that

project objectives can be accomplished. This

would also make progress toward FW-DC-

SES-02.

Management Areas

Activities are proposed primarily in Man-

agement Area (MA) 6 (General Forest).

The Forest Plan describes this management

area as “relatively large areas with roads,

trails, and structures, as well as signs of

past and ongoing activities designed to ac-

tively manage the forest vegetation.” Many

of the acres within

MA 6 are suitable

for the production

of timber on a reg-

ulated basis,

providing wood

fiber in response to

regional and na-

tional demand.

MA 5a,

(backcountry non-

motorized) is also

in the project area.

This MA is made

up of relatively

large areas

(generally without roads) and provides a

variety of motorized and non-motorized

recreation opportunities. The only activities

proposed in MA5a are planting of white-

bark pine and other reforestation activities.

There is a small portion of MA 7 (primary

recreation area) in the project area. There

are no activities proposed in MA 7. The re-

mainder of the project area is state and pri-

vate lands. No activities are proposed on

state and private lands.

Table 1. Management Areas

Management Area Acres

MA 5a 2,052

MA 6 18,463

MA 7 1,206

Other lands (State

and Private) 4,800

Total Acres in Pro-

ject Area 26,521

VICINITY MAP

6

Project Planning and Design

The Caribou Fire Salvage and Reforestation

Project has been designed to avoid or mini-

mize potential impacts to resources, and com-

ply with all applicable laws, regulations, and

direction. Compliance would be achieved by

the development and implementation of pro-

ject level design features as well as unit specif-

ic design features identified through the scop-

ing process, ongoing effects analysis, and con-

tract implementation.

Prior to the Caribou Fire, there were approxi-

mately 3,951 acres of identified old growth in

the project area. Based on initial observations

of the burn severity 2,211 of those acres no

longer meet the definition of old growth.

They do not contain enough live trees per acre

that are both old enough and large enough,

and/or they do not contain enough live trees

per acre to meet the stocking criteria. To date,

830 acres have not been surveyed, and 910

acres are anticipated to meet the definition of

old growth into the future. Of the 2,211 acres

that previously met the old growth definition,

approximately 1,762 acres are proposed for sal-

vage. Each of the pre-fire old growth stands

that are proposed for salvage activities would

be carefully examined prior to including them

in a timber sale contract. This would verify

that the stands no longer meet the criteria for

old growth. Any stands that were found to still

meet the definition of old growth would be re-

moved from the salvage project. No activities

are proposed in old growth stands in the burn

area that still meet the definition of old

growth.

Salvage units were not considered in MA 5a,

Inventoried Roadless Areas, grizzly bear core

habitat, remaining lynx multi-story forage

habitat, areas that did not burn and areas with

DETERMINING PROPOSED

HARVEST AREAS

Proposed harvest is located in areas where sal-

vage is economically feasible and potential im-

pacts to forest resources would be minimized.

To accomplish this, the interdisciplinary team

focused on forest stands with the highest per-

centage of dead trees or trees in the process of

dying. These stands have the most potential to

be restored to the desired conditions described

in the Forest Plan. The salvage area was further

narrowed by excluding salvage areas that did

not have reasonable access. Due to projected

lower economic value of burned trees, expen-

sive logging methods such as helicopter yarding

were not included in this proposal.

Photo by H. Burow

7

low levels of tree mortality, or on lands other

than National Forest System Lands. Some ac-

tivities have been proposed in a limited num-

ber of Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas

(RHCAs) in order to protect infrastructure and

provide for safe public travel.

Strips of land on either side of roads open to

public motorized use within the fire perimeter

were identified for hazard tree removal be-

cause of the need to ensure public safety along

these routes. Hazard tree removal activities

were also identified in areas that could be

reached from existing roads that are open to

administrative use. Hazard trees classified as

having an imminent or likely failure potential

would be felled along the roads and trails to

ensure public safety.

This proposed action contains units with open-

ings larger than forty acres. Where natural cat-

astrophic events such as fire, windstorms, or

insect and disease attacks have occurred, 40

acres may be exceeded without 60-day public

review and Regional Forester approval, provid-

ed the public is notified and the environmen-

tal analysis supports the decision.

Determining Proposed Fuel Treatments

Additional acres were identified for proposed

fuels reduction treatments which were not in-

cluded as salvage opportunities due to the lack

of economic value in the dead and dying trees.

These units are all located within the wildland

urban interface and were proposed based on

expected fuel loadings that would exceed

those desired for coarse woody debris and

snag retention purposes.

Specific unit design features or mitigation

measures may be added during the analysis.

Proposed Action

Table 2 displays acres proposed for harvest by

logging system, and other proposed restora-

tion activities.

Table 2. Activity Summary

Salvage by Logging System Acres

Tractor 3936

Cable Yarding 996

Fuels Treatment 88

Total Salvage Acres 5268

Other activities

Roadside Hazard Tree Removal 48.7 Miles of Road

Reforestation without salvage 1175 Acres

Riparian Planting 7.1 linear Miles of Stream

(approx. 44 acres)

Soil Restoration 331 Acres

8

Salvage Operations

Salvage harvest is proposed on 5,291 acres.

Dead and dying trees are the focus of the sal-

vage effort. Much of the Caribou Fire burned

with high severity, so assessing tree mortality

is straightforward. It is often the case that no

living foliage remains. This may be the result

of either tree crowns being completely con-

sumed by the fire or from surface fire intensi-

ty sufficient to completely scorch and kill the

conifer needles. In other instances, foliage

appears green yet the trees sustained signifi-

cant damage to the cambiums and/or crowns

such that they are dead or there is a high

probability that they will die within two years.

Tree survivability for fire-affected

trees is being assessed using the Post-

Fire Assessment of Tree Status report

prepared by Region 1 for 2017 Fire

Salvage efforts in the Region (Hood

and others 2017) to determine dead

and dying trees. Trees that are pre-

dicted to survive the fire would not be

felled or removed except for inci-

dental individuals that are deter-

mined to pose a safety risk (either to

operations in salvage units or within

roadside hazard reduction areas) or if

necessary to create landings or within

skid trails.

Most merchantable dead and dying

trees would be cut and removed from

salvage areas. Snag retention will fol-

low guidelines based on biophysical

setting as described in the Forest Plan

(see Table 4 associated with FW-GDL-

VEG-04). Per Forest Plan guidelines

(FW-GDL-VEG-05), snag retention

would be grouped, favor retention of

large diameter individuals from the

more persistent species (ponderosa

pine, western larch, and cedar) and those with

evidence of use by woodpeckers or other wild-

life. In units with more live trees per acre,

those trees would also be left if it is deter-

mined they would not succumb to secondary

agents.

The Caribou Fire resulted in extensive open-

ings with very little or no live forest canopy.

The proposed salvage units occur within areas

of moderate and high mortality, which are

now considered openings. Locations where

salvage of dead and dying trees occurs would

appear more open than those that are not sal-

vaged. The proposed salvage activities com-

Photo by H. Burow

Example Stand

This stand in the Caribou fire area contains very few of trees that are expected to live because of the fire intensity in the understory and the thin bark of the species that are present. Trees that are predicted to survive would not be removed unless they are de-termined to pose a safety risk or if necessary to re-move for implementation.

Photo by M. Strom

9

monly occur within openings that exceed

40 acres in size.

Some proposed acres will eventually be

dropped during project layout and imple-

mentation. For example, it is likely that

small springs, rock outcrops, or other mi-

crosites will be located in the proposed

treatment areas. Other areas may be

eliminated because they are too steep for

ground based equipment and do not have

the topography or proper access suitable

for cable yarding.

Salvage activities respond to the purpose

and need to re-establish forested condi-

tions and/or facilitate recovery to meet

management objectives outlined in the

Forest Plan and recover the economic val-

ue of forest products in a timely manner

to contribute to employment and income

in local communities and avoid loss of

commodity value. Salvage activities

would also mitigate threats to natural re-

sources by removing hazard trees and

excess down woody material that could

scour streams and impact infrastructure,

reduce fuels on the landscape, and pre-

pare the site for reforestation.

Roadside Hazard Tree Felling and

Removal

Within the project area, there are approxi-

mately 48.7 miles of yearlong open roads

or yearlong restricted roads

(administrative use) that are proposed for

roadside hazard tree treatment. These

areas are proposed for hazard tree felling,

with the merchantable portions of the

hazard trees available for salvage

(removal). See attached maps. Such

roadside hazard tree treatments would

extend up to 200’ from the identified trav-

Roadside hazard tree treatments would extend up to

200 ft. from the identified travel routes and would

include primarily dead and dying trees but also lesser

amounts of fire-damaged but potentially surviving

trees that pose a risk to falling on the identified

roadways.

Roadside Hazard

Example

Photo by H. Burow

10

el routes and would include primarily dead

and dying trees but also lesser amounts of fire

-damaged but potentially surviving trees that

pose a risk of falling on the identified road-

ways. Live hazard trees would be identified

using the Field Guide for

Danger Tree Identification

and Response (Toupin and

others 2008).

In RHCAs where felled

trees pose a risk to block

road drainage structures,

trees may be removed by

equipment that does not

leave the road surface or is

located outside the RHCA.

Hazard tree removal re-

sponds to the purpose and

need to reduce hazards

threatening human health

and safety.

Fuels Treatments

Fuels Reduction following

Salvage

All stands proposed for sal-

vage activities would be an-

alyzed after material with

economic value has been

removed from the site. If

the remaining fuels

(consisting of dead or dying

trees and shrubs that are

either standing or down,

and/or branches and tops

left from harvest activities

due to breakage) exceed

levels required to meet For-

est Plan direction and guid-

ance for course woody de-

bris and snag retention, fuels reduction treat-

ments may be prescribed. These treatments

may include cutting of dead and dying trees,

jackpot burning of fuel concentrations, masti-

cation, excavator or hand piling of residual

Photo by H. Burow

FUELS IN THE CARIBOU

AREA

These photos show examples of areas proposed for fuels re-duction in the WUI. In these areas, the fire killed much of the understory while leaving the larger overstory trees intact. The fuels created by the understory mortality would be reduced, therefore lowering the risk of hazardous fuels close to homes and private land, and protecting the remaining overstory trees from future high severity burn conditions. Photos by H. Bu-row

11

slash and burning of the resultant piles. All

burning operations would cooperate with fed-

eral, state, tribal, and local air quality agencies

as appropriate in order to meet applicable air

quality requirements.

Post salvage fuel treatments respond to the

purpose and need to re-establish forested con-

ditions and/or facilitate recovery to meet man-

agement objectives outlined in the Forest Plan.

Fuels treatments would also mitigate threats

to natural resources by reducing fuels on the

landscape.

Fuels Reduction following Roadside Hazard

Tree Felling and Removal

If fuels conditions following roadside hazard

tree felling and removal activities are antici-

pated to exceed levels desired to meet Forest

Plan direction and guidance for coarse woody

debris retention and/or other resource needs,

fuels reduction treatments may be prescribed.

These treatments may include required whole

tree yarding, lop and scatter of tops and limbs,

hand piling or excavator piling and burning of

the resultant piles.

Fuels reduction following roadside hazard tree

felling and removal responds to the purpose

and need to reduce hazards threatening hu-

man health and safety. Fuels treatments would

also mitigate threats to natural resources by

reducing fuels on the landscape

Fuels Reduction in the WUI

Some stands within the fire perimeter are an-

ticipated to have little to no economic value in

the dead and dying trees, and are being pro-

posed for fuels reduction treatments. Should a

market exist at the time of treatment, attempts

will be made to utilize existing material. Areas

proposed for this treatment are located within

the Wildland Urban Interface and generally

consist of patchy or continuous mortality in

the trees that are too small to provide forest

products. A total of 88 acres are proposed for

this kind of treatment. Burn severity in many

of these areas was moderate to light, leaving

branches and needles intact, but killing the

trees due to high percentages of needle scorch.

Other areas burned with high severity, con-

suming the needles and small branches, but

leaving densely spaced small diameter stems.

These areas of mortality are expected to result

in undesirable fuel loads within close proximi-

ty to private land and homes. Fuels reduction

treatments in the WUI may include cutting of

dead and dying trees, removal of fuels from

the site, jackpot burning of fuel concentra-

tions, mastication, excavator or hand piling of

residual slash and burning of the resultant

piles. These units would adhere to Forest Plan

direction and guidance for coarse woody de-

bris and snag retention levels. All burning op-

erations will cooperate with federal, state, trib-

al, and local air quality agencies as appropriate

in order to meet applicable air quality require-

ments.

Fuels reduction in the WUI responds to the

purpose and need to reduce hazards threaten-

ing human health and safety and would also

mitigate threats to natural resources by reduc-

ing fuels on the landscape.

Reforestation

In order to ensure the recovery of forested

conditions comprised of a desirable mix of spe-

cies, planting is proposed both within and out-

side of salvage and hazard tree treatment are-

as. During reconnaissance, many of the pro-

posed salvage units have an identified need for

planting given that surviving trees are rare or

absent. Planting would trend the developing

young stands toward meeting the Forest Plan’s

12

desired condition to increase the relative pro-

portion of long-lived early seral species such

as western white pine, ponderosa

pine, western larch, and whitebark

pine (FW-DC-VEG-01) which tend

to be longer lived and more re-

sistant to fire and insects and dis-

ease as opposed to shade tolerant or short

-lived species.

Coarse-scale reforestation needs have

been developed for the entire Caribou

Fire area on the NFS lands on the Rex-

ford Ranger District. Reforestation needs

will continue to be refined during the

analysis process but initial analysis has

identified nearly 6,000 acres in need of

planting on the Rexford Ranger District

within the Caribou Fire perimeter. In ad-

dition to planting within harvested areas,

varying levels of tree planting would oc-

cur where the fire burned with moderate or

high severity in areas where no tree removal

is planned, such as riparian areas and high

elevation sites that have the potential to sup-

port whitebark pine. Species mixes would

consist of native species appropriate for the

given site conditions and produced from lo-

cally-adapted seed sources. Species to be

planted may include: ponderosa pine, western

larch, western white pine, whitebark pine,

Douglas-fir, western red cedar, Engelmann

spruce, as well as riparian shrub and tree spe-

cies.

Reforestation activities respond to the purpose

and need to re-establish forested conditions

and/or facilitate recovery to meet manage-

ment objectives outlined in the Forest Plan.

Riparian Planting

Riparian planting would be conducted in high

severity fire areas near streams in order to fa-

cilitate vegetative recovery. Plantings could

consist of red-osier dogwood, willow, aspen,

and black cottonwood, depending on availa-

bility. These species are well suited for ripari-

an areas and provide good root structures for

stream bank stability, as well as shade for the

stream. Planting would occur within 25 feet of

the stream bank, with brush species closer to

the stream and tree species a little further

away.

Riparian planting responds to the purpose and

need to reduce hazards threatening human

health and safety and re-establish forested

conditions and/or facilitate recovery to meet

management objectives outlined in the Forest

Plan.

Soil Restoration

This activity would be undertaken in order to

restore soil productivity and to prepare the

soil to achieve a fully stocked stand. Approxi-

Photo showing amount of burned

material in the RHCA. Photo by H. Burow

Photo by H. Burow

13

mately six proposed units currently exceed 15

percent detrimental soil disturbance. Review

of archived data records and aerial photos re-

vealed that these areas were heavily disturbed

during harvest operations in 1959. During

these 1959 operations several bench-cut skid

trails that contour the hillsides were construct-

ed. Through this project there is an opportuni-

ty to salvage the dead trees within these units

and then restore the hillslopes to a more natu-

ral state. Skid trail re-contouring may include

pulling fill material from below the skid trail

and placing it onto the skid trail to restore the

natural hillslope, ripping and de-compacting

soil, mixing organic material into the soil, and

providing drainage features to avoid pond-

ing water in midslope areas.

Soil restoration responds to the purpose

and need to re-establish forested condi-

tions and/or facilitate recovery to meet

management objectives outlined in the

Forest Plan and will mitigate threats to

natural resources.

Temporary Roads

The implementation of this project would

require building approximately 10.35

miles of temporary roads to facilitate har-

vest activities (see attached maps). Tem-

porary roads are roads that are construct-

ed to access landings and are rehabilitated

upon completion of all harvest activities.

The temporary roads would be re-

contoured after use to the approximate

shape of the surrounding terrain. These

roads would also be closed to the general

public using berms, gates, or debris placed

near the entrance and along the first por-

tion of the road. These temporary road

segments are generally on dry ridgetop

locations and are not located in wet/moist are-

as.

To minimize impacts to the environment and

natural resources, pre-existing temporary road

alignments and alignments of non-system

roads would be utilized wherever practicable.

There are cases where it is not feasible or it is

not desirable to use the same alignments or

landings. In some places, in order to protect

residual trees, soil, and water, new temporary

roads are proposed to access landings where

existing system roads and old alignments are

not adequate for accessing strategic locations

on the ground.

1963 AERIAL PHOTO

This image from 1963 shows the bench cuts

from the 1959 harvest that are contributing

to detrimental soil disturbance in the project

area. Through this project, there is an oppor-

tunity to restore the hillslopes.

Photo from Rexford Ranger District Archives

14

The attached map shows the possi-

ble locations of the temporary

roads for this project. The exact

locations of temporary roads may

change during the layout phase of

this project, but the overall mile-

age would be the same or less.

Managing the Road System

Road maintenance and reconstruc-

tion is needed along the haul

routes to implement the proposed

action. Motorized access would re-

main unchanged. No new road

construction or road decommis-

sioning are proposed in this pro-

ject.

To support large trucks and equip-

ment, some road reconstruction

and typical road maintenance

would need to occur on approxi-

mately 60 miles of existing Nation-

al Forest System roads. These ac-

tivities could include clearing

brush, blading and shaping the

road, cleaning ditches, maintaining

or improving drainage structures

such as culverts, surface water de-

flectors or other drainage systems,

and improving the road surface. If

a restricted road is opened and

used for implementation, it would

be open to administrative use only. Only road

improvements needed to complete the treat-

ments would be implemented; if a unit drops

from the project, the associated road work

would be dropped as well.

Emergency Situation Determination

The Caribou Fire Salvage and Reforestation

Project will be requesting an emergency situa-

tion determination (ESD) from the Chief of

the Forest Service. If an ESD is granted, this

project would not be subject to the pre-

decisional objection process. Once analysis is

completed and a decision is signed by the Re-

sponsible Official, implementation could

begin immediately. Fire killed timber quickly

loses value. By implementing the project im-

mediately after a decision is signed, the Forest

Photo by H. Burow

CARIBOU FIRE AREA

More photos from the fire area. Clockwise from top:

1. High severity burn in drainage. Photo by H. Burow.

2. High severity burn in previously harvested unit.

Photo by B. Donner. 3. Burned stand with remaining

fuels. Photo by H. Burow.

15

could:

Allow for the greatest amount of

employment and income in the

local communities,

Offer the salvageable material at

its highest value to assure the tim-

ber sales have a high likelihood of

attracting potential purchasers,

Quickly reduce hazards to the pub-

lic and prevent damage to infra-

structure,

Recover more commodity value

from the salvage portion of the

project in order to implement the

fuels reduction, reforestation, ri-

parian planting, and soils restora-

tion components of the proposal.

The Forest recognizes that an ESD

would allow the project to proceed

without the pre-decisional objection

process, an important opportunity for

public review. A public involvement

plan has been developed to reach in-

terested citizens. To allow opportunity

for public input, the interdisciplinary

team plans to hold two open houses,

one in the community of West Koote-

nai and one in Eureka. Depending on

public interest, a field trip will be

made available in the spring when

weather and road conditions in the

project area allow for safe travel. Dis-

play ads will be placed in the local To-

bacco Valley News, as well as legal

advertisements in The Missoulian, the

newspaper of record. Updates will be

posted on the Kootenai National For-

est webpage as project milestones are

reached.

Timelines

A decision for this project is expected in sum-

mer of 2018.

More Information

Please contact the Eureka Ranger Station for

more information regarding the Caribou Fire

Salvage and Restoration Project.

View from the Caribou Fire of the West

Kootenai, Lake Koocanusa, and the Tobacco

Valley. Photo by H. Burow

VIEW FROM CARIBOU

This page intentionally left blank.