Nearly 100,000 acres within the Flathead National Forest burned this summer, and resource managers with the forest are eyeing potential salvage sales in two of the largest burn areas.

Michelle Draggoo, a forest planner with the Flathead Forest, said resource experts are just beginning the process of analyzing whether any of the burned tracts of forest could be eligible for harvest. Much of the Bear Creek and Trail Creek fires, which torched broad swaths of forested mountains in the Spotted Bear Ranger District, burned within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area.

The Bear Creek Fire was the largest in the state this summer and covered 70,891 acres, of which 30,409 are outside the wilderness. Nearby, the Trail Creek Fire tore through 22,195 acres, with 14,431 acres outside the wilderness.

Draggoo emphasized that there’s no guarantee that any of the area will be proposed for salvage sales.

“Right now we’re trying to take advantage of the field season out there until it snows,” Draggoo said Wednesday. “We’re trying to get wildlife biologists, silviculturists and the whole gamut of resource specialists we have out there.”

Forest officials have to take wildlife habitat, soil conditions and erosion, accessibility for loggers, merchantability of the trees and a multitude of other factors into account before they determine whether to propose a timber sale. If a possible sale is identified, Draggoo said an initial proposal could go out to the public as early as January.

Despite the recent emphasis on collaborative projects, however, she said that the time element for salvage sales may preclude incorporating collaborative efforts in the forest’s planning of the sales.

“We’re certainly going to involve the public as much as we can,” she said. “Salvage is something that needs to move relatively quickly to try to capture the merchantability before it declines.”

Depending on the species of tree and the degree to which it burned, the dead stands of timber can last up to three years before they’re no longer viable for harvest. Draggoo said that white wood tends to decline much more quickly than species such as Western larch and Douglas fir.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.