The Tally Lake Ranger District of Flathead National Forest is seeking comments on a proposed project in the Whitefish Face area that would include 40 miles of new trails and forest-fire fuel reduction efforts.
North of Whitefish, the Whitefish Face area is located in the Whitefish Range, from Haskill Basin to Werner Peak. The Whitefish Face Working Group started meeting in May 2014 and submitted the proposal in March 2015.
The Taylor Hellroaring Project is the result of U.S. Forest Service personnel working with a local group of citizens seeking collaborative forest management in the Whitefish Face area. The group identified the need to treat vegetation in the area to increase resilience to insects and disease and to reduce the risk and severity of wildfires.
The group also identified a need to maintain and improve wildlife habitat and increase rust-resistant western white pine and whitebark pine. The proposal includes a variety of vegetation treatments, including regeneration harvest, partial harvest, understory fuel treatment and prescribed burning on about 1,884 acres.
Facilitating these vegetation treatments would be about 5 miles of a road system that could be developed, then closed and placed in stored status for future use. Portions of these roads would be trail routes, and approximately .74 miles of temporary roads would be built and then reclaimed following their use.
Along with the environmental considerations, the group wanted to design the project to provide a range of trail experiences for hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders. Therefore, the proposal also includes 40 miles of new trails and a new trailhead.
According to the proposal, the trail network would be a series of looping trails providing opportunities for progressively longer and more challenging excursions, with a layout allowing users to choose the length and challenge of their preference. This would ideally reduce user conflict, the proposal said.
The Tally Lake Ranger District is accepting comments about this proposal until April 28, so that public input can be used to identify issues that in turn may lead to the development of alternatives to the proposed action.
Written, hand-delivered, and oral comments can be delivered to Project Team Leader, Deb Bond (406-758-5204) at 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901, “attention Deb Bond.” Or email comments to: [email protected] and include “Taylor Hellroaring” in the subject line.
Additional information about this project can be found at the project website www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=50518.