By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — The scene along Interstate 90 from Rose Lake to Cataldo will change with a planned timber harvest.

The sale by the Idaho Transportation Department will remove more than 500,000 board feet from 30 acres on both sides of the freeway in a 3-mile stretch. About 64,000 board feet will be left.

"It's basically a clear cut," said Jeanne Bradley, a forestry resource supervisor for the Idaho Department of Lands that will perform the harvest for ITD.

The harvest will likely occur next year.

Bradley informed the Four-County Natural Resources Committee about the harvest at the Iron Horse restaurant in downtown Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday.

She said the harvest is needed due to large amounts of dead and weak trees in the corridor. It's reached the point that trees have fallen onto the interstate, causing dangerous driving conditions.

"It's also a fire risk," she said. "It may not look so nice for a while, but it will come back."

Bradley said multiple stakeholders, including Avista Utilities, Kootenai County and Idaho Fish and Game, support the harvest since it is expected to improve safety and open up areas where there are power lines.

"It can be dangerous," Bradley said. "If it's opened up, drivers will be able to see animals sooner, and trees falling on the road is never good. Some species there have very short root systems, so they blow over."

Karen Roetter, regional director for Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said the stretch is known to have a high number of animal-vehicle collisions.

Bradley said revenue from the timber sale is projected to more than pay for the harvest, including traffic control, logging operations and slash removal.

ITD and IDL will enter into a memorandum of understanding for the project.

"ITD has done most of the work; we're just taking care of the forestry part of it," Bradley said.

Some Ponderosa pine will be spared, but trees susceptible to disease such as white pine, grand fir and lodgepole pine will be cut, Bradley said.

OTHER PROJECTS

Meanwhile, other timber harvests, including on Rathdrum Mountain and the 751-acre Wallace Forest Conservation Area around Blue Creek Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene, are planned.

It's still unclear when IDL will clear-cut harvest about 300 acres on Rathdrum Mountain.

"We don't know when the timber will be sold because it's still in the review process," Bradley said. "Once it is sold, it will have to be harvested within three years."

She said the harvest will decrease fire danger and improve forest health.

"It's a highly deteriorated timber stand," she said.

The property is on the central part of the mountain behind Rathdrum and extends to the top.

"You'll be able to see (the clear cut) from everywhere — it's Rathdrum Mountain," Bradley said.

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 two years ago.

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

Kurt Pavlat, Bureau of Land Management's Coeur d'Alene field manager, spoke Wednesday about the planned timber harvest and recreation improvement plans for the Wallace Forest Conservation Area.

The agency plans to:

- Create additional equestrian and hiking trails on the west side where the uses are already occurring;

- Build mountain bike trails in the northwest section;

- Construct a small gravel parking lot off Bonnell Road;

- Enlarge the existing meadow parking area;

- Develop a connector trail that links both sides of the site; and

- Open a kid-friendly mountain bike loop on the east side of the site.

The timber harvest will consist of 700,000 board feet on the west side to reduce hazardous fuels, followed by 1.2 million to 1.5 million on the east side.

"We want to retain the character of the site," Pavlat said, adding that new trees will be planted.

Pavlat said work is underway on a fuel break along Yellowstone Trail in the conservation area.

Pavlat said the projects will be done in phases over the next three to five years.

Barb McFarland, representing the Kootenai Environmental Alliance and Idaho Conservation League, said she walks her dog in the conservation area.

"It's heavily used and much appreciated," she said.