On Wednesday, April 12, a public meeting was held by the Ninemile Ranger District to discuss the Petty Creek Big Game Ecosystem Management Burn Project. The meeting was held in the Alberton cafeteria where residents were brought up-to-date on activities and were able to ask questions about the project located just south of Alberton.

Prescribed burns will begin as early as this week if weather permits. This is a large landscape-scale project covering approximately 6,000 acres designed to improve habitat for big game species in the area. It will take place over the next decade, with burns covering 200 to 1,000 acres in any given year.

“A lot of bighorn sheep herds have been hit with pneumonia which knocked down their numbers quite a bit,” said wildlife biologist, Carly Lewis.

The herds contracted the illness by being in contact with domestic sheep. They can carry the disease without becoming sick and pass it along to the bighorns. By improving their habitat, they are hoping to see the herds rebound. Liz Bradley, wildlife biologist with Fish, Wildlife and Parks, has been conducting spring herd population counts and reported approximately 130 in the Alder Creek area up Petty Creek. Other species in the area which will benefit from this project include turkey, elk, deer and bear.

“These herds don’t like trees because of predators,” said Lewis, “they need to be able to see several hundred yards and run to the cliffs if there’s danger and so they need open habitat.”

The cliffs like those found on Cinderella Mountain are ideal for the sheep herds and removing some of the trees will improve their habitat. Also, the shrubs they graze on need improvement. Fire “resets” the shrubs and makes them more nutritious and palatable for sheep, as well as elk and deer.

Landowners and residents will also benefit because it will remove hazardous fuels on the National Forest lands adjacent to their properties. Over the years, fire suppression in the area has been necessary to protect homes but the exclusion of fire over the past few decades has led to the undesirable wildlife habitat conditions.

By restoring fire to the area in a controlled manner will help to maintain the habitat, and create safer conditions for firefighters and the public when wildfires do occur according to the projects report. The project will also improve summer and winter elk range.

The Ed’s and Gus Creek areas provide winter range for the elk, and the higher elevations provide summer range. The prescribed burns will reduce litter from grass and conifer areas. It will also open the canopy by reducing the tree density, allowing more sunlight to the ground, increasing production of grasses and forbs for the elk.

In addition to the burns, there will also be weed spraying by helicopter. Manual tree thinning of the smaller trees will also take place. However, there will be no commercial tree removal involved. In higher elevations to apply the fire helicopters will either have a plastic sphere dispenser (PSD), or use a heli-torch. The PSD drops small ping pong size balls which hit the ground and ignites. But these methods will not be used adjacent to private property.

In areas adjacent to private property, firefighters will dig firelines to avoid the spread of fire onto private lands. Those will be ignited by hand with drip torches in lower elevation areas. The Frenchtown Fire Department will be alerted when the prescribed burns take place, and homeowners will also be notified. Residents who want to be contacted can call the Ninemile Ranger Station and be added to the list at (406) 626-5201.

Most of the burning will take place in the higher elevations, away from private property, explained Andy Bidwell with the Forest Service, where there is limited road access. However in the lower elevation areas there will be water tender trucks in addition to the fire control lines.

The project began in 2016 where some thinning has already taken place. It will continue for the next decade or more, depending on environmental conditions and funding.

“In any given year, up to 3-5 units (roughly 200-1,000 acres) could be burned, but the entire project area will not be burned at the same time. Burning will occur when smoke dispersion, weather, and other conditions will allow for an effective burn that is safe for the public and firefighters,” according to the project report.