The Sunrise Fire is only about 60 percent contained but the Mineral County Resource Coalition has already drafted a request to Lolo National Forest Supervisor, Tim Garcia, to begin plans for post-fire salvage operations.

The letter to Garcia stated that “the Sunrise Fire is a tragic reminder of the need for us to work aggressively to improve forest health on all our national forests. The downfall and dead-standing timber in the area where the fire started made it impossible for hand crews to even access the fire. We understand that a healthy vibrant forest can and will still experience fires. However, the size and intensity of those fires will be much less and fire crews can contain them much easier.”

The letter went on to state that with the existing network of roads and most of the area is designated for timber in the Forest Plan, post-fire salvage is appropriate and necessary. Tools available to expedite salvage projects include Categorical Exclusion (CE) and Emergency Situation Determination (ESD) both stemming from the 2014 Farm Bill.

CE authority would be used for initial projects which provide public safety along roads and protect structures and improvements. The ESD authorization would be used to expedite salvage efforts and maintain the highest economic value of the commodities, according to the letter. They are requesting these early, even before an analysis has begun by the Forest Service, to ensure that post-fire salvage operation can be quickly implemented.

Only one of the three ESD criteria would need to be met in order to qualify. The three criteria are: 1. Relief from hazards threatening human health and safety; 2. Mitigation of threats to natural resources on National Forest Service or adjacent lands; 3. Avoiding a loss of commodity value sufficient to jeopardize the agency’s ability to accomplish project objectives directly related to resources protection or restoration.

The coalition is hoping that they qualify under more than one criteria. They would like to see changes to the overall fire program.

“We can make changes on how we do things and get ahead of the game and make the fires more manageable,” said Willy Peck, who helped to draft the letter and works at Tricon Timber in St. Regis. “That’s why we push so hard to look at every acre on every project. We are hoping to at least get the forests back in a manageable state where they won’t have the intensity that they have now.”

With the Sunrise Fire, the terrain was difficult for hand crews to access said Jill Cobb, who was part of the Incident II Command Team under Shawn Pearson.

“The roads are blown shut with downfall,” said Peck, “the forests are in terrible condition and before crews can get on the ground the fire is already in an uncontrollable condition.”

They are hoping the process will begin this fall with sales advertised by mid- to late summer in 2018. If they can get roads started quickly then they won’t lose a season. The burnt timber can be harvested for two or three years. Areas of the Sunrise Fire are in a management area which allows for vegetation management. Peck said the Lolo Peak and Rice Ridge Fires are also in management areas. He and other in the coalition would like to see all of the salvage projects move forward and support efforts in all the burned areas.

The Redd Bull Project is currently in the planning stages as a proposed timber harvest area with hopes of it being completed by 2018 with a target date of 2020 for the first sale. However, Redd Bull maybe postponed for a few years in order to focus on the Sunrise Fire area. But the Forest Service makes the final decisions.

“The next one in line was Quart-Trout,” said Peck. “It was from Quartz Creek to Trout Creek and now it’s all burned. Here we are again, 10 years behind.”

He said if they do postpone Redd Bull then they are looking at the same potential hazardous situation since the area is full of dead and dying timber, “Redd Bull has seen very little activity in the last 50 years and it should have been done 10 years ago.”

Ultimately, what they would like to see is the Forest Service get their jobs reinstated so they can get more people on the ground to help with forest management projects. A sentiment shared by top Montana government officials.

Montana’s U.S. Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue last week at the Lolo Peak Fire to assess the situation as that wildfire continues to grow to more than 35,000 acres.

“We’re tired of seeing catastrophic wildfires. Either we’re going to better manage our forests, or the forests are going to manage us,” said Daines. “We’re spending too much time and money fighting fires. We need to instead spend time and money managing our forests.”

During their visit they discussed the effects lawsuits have had on firefighting.

“We can’t do anything about the weather, but we can do things about forest management that make sense so we can diminish forest fires in the future,” Perdue said during a public briefing about the fire.

The group discussed litigation and how that is keeping forests in an unhealthy state. Gianforte said that more than 50 percent of planned forest management projects in Montana are challenged in court. The federal Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows those who successfully sue the government to recover their legal costs, needed reform to reduce “frivolous lawsuits.”

Currently, the Forest Service spends 55 percent of its annual budget on firefighting.