The owners of more than 700,000 acres of private timberland across Northwest Montana will close their acreage to the public beginning Aug. 2, citing concerns related to extreme fire danger.
The closures include popular recreational access points to land owned by Green Diamond Resource Company, SPP Montana, Flathead Ridge Ranch, MKH Montana, and F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber. In a joint announcement on July 30, the timber interests announced they are temporarily closing the land to all public access “until further notice” in an effort to reduce the risk of wildfire.
The joint announcement comes one day after Stimson Lumber Company announced closures on its land, and less than two weeks after the companies imposed fire restrictions.
The most recent restrictions include prohibitions on firewood cutting, non-motorized use and walk-in use at areas frequented by hikers, hunters and anglers.
The grounds are generally open to the public for recreation outside of fire season, which has arrived in earnest. Record-setting temperatures have created tinder-box conditions throughout the region’s forests, where numerous wildfires are already burning, threatening residences and straining limited wildland firefighting resources across the northern rockies.
“These private landowners appreciate the public’s cooperation in respecting these closures in an effort to help protect these forestlands from the risk of wildfire,” according to a press release distributed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on behalf of the companies.