HELENA – Helena city commissioners have approved a plan to cut down hundreds of acres of trees south of the city that have been killed by mountain pine bark beetles.
Parks and Recreation Director Amy Teegarden and Natural Resources Coordinator Brad Langsather believe the city will need at least $825,000 to thin and log the roughly 500 acres of ponderosa pines standing dead on Mount Helena and Mount Ascension and in the South Hills.
When possible, the cut trees will be chipped or burned. The city will give as much firewood as possible to low-income residents, and some areas may be replanted.
But commissioners were cautioned while making their decision Monday that the areas will never look the same.
“What we do in the future will not be a Xerox copy of what you’re seeing right now,” Langsather said. “The Parks and Recreation Department and the city commission will be painting a different picture.”
The city plans to cut two 100-acre patches on Mount Helena this fall at a cost of $289,000. The work will be paid for with $125,000 in city money and $164,000 in state and federal grant funding.
The city also plans $536,000 worth of work on 300 acres in the South Hills next year. City officials are still trying to figure out how to pay for that work.
Acting City Manager Dave Nielsen says city officials will present commissioners with a list of funding options.
“This goes well beyond a Parks Department issue,” Nielsen said. “We’re going to take all of the resources we can muster at the city.”