Flathead National Forest issued the final OK for a 7,409-acre forestry project on the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir. 

The Dry Riverside Project aims to improve forest resiliency and reduce fuels through 3,726 acres of commercial treatments, 2,370 acres of prescribed burns and 1,313 acres of other noncommercial treatments, according to project documents. The U.S. Forest Service will construct 17 miles of roads to access the targeted forest stands, 4.3 miles of which will be fully decommissioned at the project’s conclusion. 

Officials initially released a draft decision notice to greenlight the project in November 2023, nearly three years before the final approval was signed on Sept. 8, 2026. The timing of both documents corresponded with major milestones in a legal dispute over the 2018 Flathead National Forest Plan, which governs management across the entire national forest. 

Local environmental groups Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan sued the United States Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a portion of the plan that altered how the forest managed and monitored temporary roads after the completion of forestry projects. The environmental groups alleged that the government agencies failed to account for how sedimentation and traffic from the roads respectively impacted bull trout and grizzly bears, both of which are listed under the Endangered Species Act. 

Federal judges twice sided with the environmental groups and ordered that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issue a new biological opinion on the forest plan’s impacts to bull trout and grizzly bears. The latest judgment from Magistrate Kathleen DeSoto was handed down in March 2024. A revised biological opinion was issued to Flathead National Forest on Sept. 4, 2026. 

The document echoes much of the original analysis and concludes that the 2018 Forest Plan will not have significant adverse effects on either bull trout or grizzly bears.  

In the final decision notice for the Dry Riverside Project, forest officials determined that the proposed activities “may affect, likely to adversely affect” grizzly bears, Canada lynx and whitebark pine, all of which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The finding necessitates that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issue its own biological opinion analyzing potential impacts from the project.  

Flathead National Forest received those documents in April 2024, according to the decision notice, but neither of the agencies lists a biological opinion for the Dry Riverside Project in online search databases, and the project decision notice does not disclose what the biological opinions concluded regarding potential harms to threatened species. Forest officials did not respond to requests to review the documents by presstime. 

Work on the Dry Riverside Project is likely to kick off this fall. Commercial treatments are expected to continue for five years, while noncommercial treatments may take up to 10 years to complete. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 406-758-4433 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.