Flathead National Forest officials are moving ahead with two timber projects, one near Marias Pass and the other near Spotted Bear.

Hungry Horse-Glacier View acting district ranger Shawn Boelman recently authorized the Granite Lodgepole salvage harvest project on 99 acres in the Granite Creek drainage near Marias Pass.

Former district ranger Jimmy DeHerrera determined in December 2011 that an EA or EIS was not required for this project.

The harvest area is accessed off U.S. 2 on Skyland Creek Road No. 569, a popular snowmobiling area. Trees there have been severely impacted by mountain pine beetles over the past three years and during an epidemic in the 1990s.

Lodgepole pines would be removed by tractor or cable logging systems in well-stocked or dense stands, leaving other tree species behind. The goal is to provide some commercial timber as well as improve forest health.

No temporary roads would be built, but two closed roads would be temporarily reopened for loggers. Berms would be reconstructed afterward, and gates on Roads 9634, 9634A and 9156 would be replaced with berms that would allow snowmobiles and snow grooming equipment to pass in winter.

The Flathead Forest recently posted preliminary advertising for two timber sales within the Soldier Addition II Project, which extends along the west side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork of the Flathead River for about 16 miles to Meadow Creek Campground.

The 592-acre Tin Mule timber sale, west and northwest of the Spotted Bear Campground, is expected to yield 21,491 tons of lodgepole sawtimber, 3,014 tons of Douglas fir and other sawtimber, and 17,539 tons of non-sawtimber.

The 57-acre Meadow Gorge timber sale, at two locations near Meadow Creek Gorge and near Bunker Park, is expected to yield 1,328 tons of lodgepole sawtimber, 588 tons of Douglas fir and other sawtimber and 769 tons of non-sawtimber.

The Soldier Addition II Project has drawn controversy because it is close to the Spotted Bear River Project and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Two local environmental groups filed suit to block both projects.

Friends of the Wild Swan and the Swan View Coalition filed suit in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Feb. 28 to block the Spotted Bear project and on April 16 to stop the Soldier project. Friends of the Wild Swan also filed suit to stop the Soldier project in October 2010.

The environmental groups claim the Flathead Forest needs to conduct a full-blown environmental impact statement and take into account cumulative impacts of two large adjacent timber projects so close to the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

The groups claim in both lawsuits that “industrial logging” will harm habitat for lynx, wolverines, grizzly bears, gray wolves, fishers and bull trout, particularly by logging stands of 75-140 year-old trees.

In May, Joe Krueger, a forest environmental coordinator for the Forest, said the Flathead Forest was consulting with their attorneys but otherwise planned to go ahead with the Soldier project.

Copies of environmental assessments for both projects are available online at www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead under “NEPA projects.”