The Swan Lake Ranger District has scheduled a public meeting to discuss the Beaver Creek Landscape Restoration Project, a proposal by the U.S. Forest Service aimed at reducing hazardous fuel conditions, improving habitat conditions for threatened species and providing commercial timber in a section of land near Lindbergh Lake.
The project is located in the southern-most portion of the Swan Lake Ranger District, bordered by Lindbergh Lake and the Mission Mountains to the west, the Swan River to the north, Highway 83 to the east, and the Lolo National Forest to the south. The proposed project area encompasses 11,743 acres.
This area lies within the boundaries of the Southwest Crown of the Continent Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, which aims to provide funding for the implementation of collaborative science based ecosystem restoration activities in forested landscapes.
According to the Forest Service, many acres in the Beaver Creek Drainage have missed one or more fire cycles due to past fire suppression. The accumulated fuels, their size, and arrangement have created conditions conducive to
dangerous wildfires with extreme fire behavior, the agency stated in its proposal.
According to the Forest Service, the purpose of the Beaver Creek Landscape Restoration Project is to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire and promote ecological restoration by reducing hazardous fuel conditions in the project area; improve habitat conditions for threatened, endangered or sensitive species; improve forest health; improve watershed conditions; remediating or controlling invasions of exotic species; and contribute to the local economy by providing commercial and personal-use wood products.
The public meeting is on Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Swan Lake Ranger District Office, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, to discuss the Beaver Creek Landscape Restoration Project. The intent of this meeting is to identify potential themes for alternatives and discuss how these themes could be used to develop alternatives to the proposed action. In March 2014, public comments identified issues and concerns that will be used to help develop these alternatives.
Information on this project is available on the Flathead National Forest web page. Contact Sarah Canepa at (406) 837-7500 or [email protected], if you plan to attend this meeting or have questions about the Beaver Creek Landscape Restoration Project.