HAMILTON — Logging work has commenced in a project intended to thin wooded areas that could potentially provide fuel for wildfires.
The Ravalli Republic reported Sunday that loggers have started thinning about 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) of dense forest in the area of the Bitterroot River.
The Meadow Vapor project will split the work area and the timber will be sold in two sales to area mills for various uses.
The project focuses on removing diseased and smaller trees and leaving old-growth ponderosa pine and Douglas fir behind.
Fires burned large areas of the region in 2000.
The Bitterroot Community Wildfire Protection Plan has identified the area with an estimated 255 homes as a high priority for reduction of potential wildfire fuel.