An environmental assessment for a timber project on the Flathead Forest east of the Hungry Horse Reservoir is now under a 30-day comment period.

The Dry Riverside project will include commercial timber harvest, non-commercial vegetation treatments, thinning, burning, and whitebark pine planting aimed at diversifying and promoting a more fire-resilient forest.

“The purpose of the project is to increase western larch and western white pine and some quality aspen in some areas that could really benefit from having more of those trees for insect damage or potential wildfire starts,” said Kira Powell, the public affairs officer for the Flathead National Forest.

Commercial timber will occur on 4,205 acres and non commercial vegetation treatments will occur on 3,696 acres. Some roads would be constructed or reconstructed to facilitate the work, according to the Flathead Forest.

Ideally, the project would maintain and increase the presence of large trees, particularly those species that are resistant to fire, insects or disease. In some areas, the project proposes whitebark pine restoration activities.

Whitebark pine is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The trees support biodiversity at high elevations by providing habitat and creating important wildlife food through its seeds. The tree is also fire adapted, which means it benefits from fire disturbance.

“They are a super amazing tree that is such a quintessential Montana, northern tree that provides food for grizzlies and food for so many animals,” Powell added.

In addition to vegetative treatments, the proposal would also add some culverts to allow for fish passage and to prevent high water levels from washing out roads and delivering road sediment into streams.

The release of the environmental assessment is the latest step in a lengthy project, Powell said. The Flathead Forest’s forest plan is used as a guiding document for all forest projects, outlining the desired conditions that foresters want to move forward, according to Powell.

Once a project is evaluated based on those directions and is solidified with a good proposal, the project goes out for its first round of public comment via a scoping period. For Dry Riverside, forest specialists looked at the first round of comments and adjusted the project in relation to serious concerns.

“This particular project got a lot of feedback … having to do with deer and elk with a strong emphasis on looking out for those animals and making sure they have quality food and forage in different times of the year and quality habitat,” Powell said.

More information about the Dry Riverside project, including maps and instructions for how to provide public comment, is available at www.fs.usda.gov/project/flathead/?project=63176 under the “analysis” tab.

Comments will be accepted through Oct. 2, 2023 at midnight.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at khesotn@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.