RATHDRUM — As Frank Waterman walked on Rathdrum Mountain, rows of volunteer alder trees lining the sides of an old road provided a scenic backdrop.

"They're pretty — unless you're trying to grow (fir and Ponderosa pine) trees up here," Waterman, the Mica/Cataldo manager for the Idaho Department of Lands, said on Friday.

IDL is planning to put a tree harvest out to bid in April on about 300 of the 436 acres on the mountain that are owned by the Idaho Endowment Trust that benefits public schools.

"Everything is still in the preliminary stages," said Jeanne Bradley, forestry resource supervisor for IDL's Mica region.

The property is on the central part of the mountain behind Rathdrum and extends to the top. The site is north of property the city is planning to lightly develop into recreational opportunities off Reservoir Road. The city had its site harvested last year.

Funds from the state's clear-cut harvest will benefit public schools.

"It will be visible from everywhere," Bradley said of the harvest. "We want everybody to know that we're doing this, and why we're doing this."

Bradley said multiple issues that have plagued the site, including brush overgrowth, old trees, root rot, bugs and disease, have prevented or limited growth of trees such as fir, Western larch and Ponderosa pine that generate timber revenue for schools.

"Brush has taken over and there's some trees up here that are 103 years old," Bradley said. "It's a stagnant stand, so there's limited chance for natural regeneration. Trees have a lifespan just like people."

Once the harvest is over, new trees will be planted per the Forest Practices Act on the property.

"In 10 years it will be nice and green again — with small trees and not brush," Bradley said. "We want to make a healthy and productive stand. Trees can't compete with the brush."

Last year IDL harvested 277 million board feet of timber statewide and followed up with 2.46 million tree seedlings planted.

Bradley said it may be up to three years before a tree is cut on the site, but it will likely be in a year or two.

The state's school endowment program has owned property on Rathdrum Mountain since 1917. It acquired more property from agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service over the years.

IDL had a more selective, 90-acre harvest performed in a different section of Rathdrum Mountain in 1999 that failed, Bradley said.

"Brush got ahead of the regeneration and choked it out," she said.

Therefore, the state is planning a more thorough harvest this time in hopes of creating better conditions for future tree growth.

At the site that was harvested 17 years ago, Waterman pulled up a pine tree that was about 10 years old but had only grown 3 feet.

"This should be 10 to 15 feet by now," he said. "We can do much better."

Waterman said the state learned from that harvest and while a clear-cut may not be popular with the public at first because it will initially cause a bare area on the mountain, it's best for fire protection, tree growth and streams.

"A forester's first choice is not to clear cut," he said. "But we have to be more aggressive this time. It makes for a healthier stand, which is more resistant to fire."

Bradley said a harvest that occurred before last year's Cape Horn wildfire near Bayview limited the size and damage of that blaze.

IDL also had harvests performed on Rathdrum Mountain in 1996, 1979 and 1954.

For fiscal year 2017, IDL distributed $32.8 million to Idaho public schools, an improvement over FY2016's $31.3 million.

IDL has met with the city about the harvest.

Rathdrum City Administrator Leon Duce said he would like residents to know the upcoming harvest is not a city project, that the city had a selective harvest performed on its property already.

"The city is working with the state in hopes to minimize any negative impact to both the timber harvest and the Rathdrum Mountain (recreation project)," Duce said. "The city is concerned that many people will see the harvest as a project of the city."