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Forest Service seeks comments on local area
Deer Creek project, a KVRI collaboration |
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February 6, 2015 |
Forest Service seeking public comments on
proposed Deer Creek project
The Bonners Ferry Ranger District of the Idaho
Panhandle National Forests (IPNF) is seeking
public comments on a forest management project
being developed in collaboration with the
Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative as part of
the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration
Program.
The “Deer Creek Project” is located north of
Moyie Springs, Idaho and includes portions of
the Deer Creek, Skin Creek, Curley Creek, Fry
Creek and Meadow Creek drainages. The primary
focus of the Deer Creek Project is to restore or
improve the forest’s resilience to disturbances
such as wildfire, drought, and insect and
disease outbreaks. The project will also improve
recreational opportunities, provide employment
opportunities for local contractors, and
contribute to the local economy. A 30-day public
review and comment period started Friday,
January 23rd, and will end on February 21st.
Field reconnaissance of the Deer Creek project
area has identified the need to:
· Maintain previously-treated forest stands. The
project area has an extensive history of
past-management that focused on restoring
ponderosa pine, white pine and larch and
reducing fuels in the Wildland urban interface.
There is a need to maintain these previously
treated areas in order to keep them on desirable
developmental trajectories with regard to
composition, structure and fuel loading.
· Increase species diversity and reduce both
fire, insect, and disease hazard in portions of
the project area currently dominated by
relatively homogenous expanses of lodgepole pine
and declining grand fir and Douglas-fir stands.
Potential stand treatments will mimic historic
conditions, reduce insect and disease hazard,
and provide greater safety and flexibility for
future fire management.
The Deer Creek project area contains over 200
miles of road including 97.2 miles of National
Forest System Road and 48.3 miles of
unclassified roads located on National Forest
System Lands. Using the existing road system for
forest management access will require extensive
improvements, and the proposal currently
includes 35.5 miles of road maintenance and 14.3
miles of road reconstruction. In addition to
providing access for vegetation management, road
work will improve access for private land
owners, forest users and fire suppression. It
will also improve aquatic habitat by replacing
culverts, reducing sediment delivery potential
for local streams, and by reducing the risk of
road fill failures.
In addition to proposed vegetative treatments
and road system improvements, the Deer Creek
Project also proposes significant improvements
to local recreational facilities. The project
seeks to improve camping conditions and the boat
launch at Solomon Lake, construct a pull through
parking lot for snowmobilers on the Deer Creek
Road, make improvements to approximately 10
miles of the Goat Mountain and Line Point trail
(Trail #44), and to construct a non-motorized
loop trail at the Meadow Creek campground.
All of the proposed activities will contribute
to the local economy and provide opportunities
for local contractors, but the potential
economic effects of timber harvest associated
with the project are the easiest to quantify.
According to the University of Idaho, each
million board feet of timber harvested and
processed in the state provides approximately 18
jobs (10 in the forest products industry plus
eight indirect jobs in supporting industries),
$528,000 in wages and salaries, and generates
more than $3.2 million in sales of goods and
services. The current proposal would yield
approximately 10 million board feet as a
byproduct of vegetative treatments.
The Deer Creek project is just one part of a
much larger effort to pursue holistic ecological
restoration throughout the lower Kootenai River
watershed. Working with the Kootenai Valley
Resource Initiative to develop and implement
projects has been a key to successfully
implementing several significant projects to
date. KVRI’s collaborative efforts, coupled with
approximately $1.4 million dollars annually from
the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration
Program, has allowed the IPNF to begin
restoration work in the Twentymile and Kreist
Creek drainages, and on the Buckhorn Ridge area.
Through continued partnership, the forest will
build on this successful basin-wide restoration
with continued planning efforts in the Deer
Creek, Hellroaring Creek, and Boulder Creek
project areas.
For more information on the Deer Creek project,
contact the project leader, A.J. Helgenberg at
the Sandpoint Ranger District office, (208)
265-6643 or ajhelgenberg@fs.fed.us.
Information including maps and a complete
project proposal can also be obtained on the
Idaho Panhandle National Forest website at
www.fs.fed.us/ipnf/eco/manage/nepa/index.html. |
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