Montana’s First "Healthy Forests" Project
Threatens Bitterroot’s Old-Growth Forests

These old-growth Douglas fir trees were slated to be cut down as part of Montana's first Healthy Forests Restoration Act proposal – the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction project on the Bitterroot National Forest. The Forest Service's March 30, 2006 decision has deferred all industrial logging in the forests pictured above. However, the decision still includes 2,893 acres of industrial logging in some of the best remaining pockets of unlogged, mature forests in the East Fork of the Bitterroot. Generally, these logging units still part of this project are deeper in the forest, far from homes and the East Fork community. These forests also provide critical habitat for the huge elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer herds found up the East Fork. All photos by Native Forest Network.

Updates

Conservation Groups Look to Hold Forest Service Accountable for Middle East Fork Logging Plan: Lawsuit Filed to Protect East Fork, Wildlife Habitat, Watersheds, Soils and Public Process - April 26, 2006

Forest Service Releases Middle East Fork Record of Decision: Initial review by the Native Forest Network (April 3, 2006)

• Bitterroot National Forest officials are claiming they have dropped all industrial logging units in "old-growth habitat." This is not true. (pdf)
• Questions for Mr. Bull, Bitterroot Forest Supervisor

Bitterroot National Forest Releases Final EIS for Middle East Fork HFRA Project: Lock Citizens Out of Public Press Conference in Supervisor's Office (press release)

• Read local newspaper editorials from the Ravalli Republic and Helena Independent Record as well as a newspaper article from the Bitterroot Star.

FOIA Reveals Bitterroot National Forest has Spent $162,000 in Taxpayer Money Marking Old-Growth Logging Units on Middle East Fork Project During Public Comment Period and Prior to Official Decision.

• W Marks the Spot: Bait and Switch in the Bitterroot (Counterpunch)
• Government Gone Bad: Ignoring the Public on Public Land (Missoula Independent)
• Forest Service Mocks Public Involvement (New West)
• Marked Trees Anger Environmentalists (Missoulian)

Take Action

Send your written comments about this project to comments-northern-bitterroot@fs.fed.us. You must state "MEF - COMMENTS" in the email subject line. Or send them to the address below:

MEF - Comments
Sula District Ranger
Bitterroot National Forest
7338 Hwy. 93 South
Sula, MT 59871

Photo Essays from NFN's Monitoring Trips within Middle East Fork Project

• January 2005: Guide Creek area
• January 2005: Tepee Creek area
• November 2004: Jennings Camp Creek and Colvert Creek areas
• GroundTRUTHing: A Day in the Woods with the Native Forest Network

Video Clips from the Middle East Fork

Native Forest Network's Matthew Koehler gives a field introduction to the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project during a recent monitoring trip to the project area. As part of this "Healthy Forests Restoration Act" project the Forest Service is proposing industrial logging of old-growth Douglas-fir trees up to 4 feet in diameter.

Native Forest Network's Matthew Koehler talks about the important ecological role that insects, fire and disease play in the overall health of forests in the East Fork of the Bitterroot National Forest, as well as how these natural processes affect fire risk in the short and long-term.

University of Montana College of Forestry Master student David Mildrexler talks about the importance of downed wood to soils and natural recovery of forests along the East Fork of the Bitterroot, especially given the steep slopes founds within much of the project area.

A look inside unit 13 reveals life, death and renewal – all critical components of a "healthy forest." Learn how these "tip-up" mounds provide denning sites for martin and how other critters utalize fallen logs for shelter and food storage.

Look across Jennings Camp Creek from a 2003 post-fire logging project on the Bitterroot National Forest to unit 13, an unlogged, old-growth forest. You'll get a good idea of what current post-disturbance logging looks like on the Bitterroot National Forest.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

On December 3, 2003 President Bush signed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 into law. While the Native Forest Network supports protecting communities from wildfire and putting people to work restoring our national forests, some in the Forest Service are using the HFRA to plan large logging projects.

In Montana, the first HFRA project is called the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction project and is in the Bitterroot National Forest. The proposed Middle East Fork project would mix a small amount of bona-fide community protection work with logging over nine square miles of forest (6,000 acres in total), including clearcut "regeneration" logging in previously unlogged, old-growth forests.

These forests near the East Fork of the Bitterroot River are home to elk, bighorn sheep, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, black bear, wolves, coyote, bull trout, cutthroat trout, goshawk, martin, black-backed woodpecker, pileated woodpecker, downey woodpecker and flammulated owls.

According to the Bitterroot National Forest, the rationale for the clearcut "regeneration" logging that targets massive, old-growth Douglas Fir (some up to 4 feet in diameter) is that these legacy trees are either infested with bark beetles or "at imminent risk of spread of the beetle epidemic."

It’s also important to note that many of the areas slated for logging under this HFRA project are pockets of unlogged, native forest that are surrounded by clearcuts from previous industrial logging projects – meaning the importance of these unlogged forests to wildlife such as the elk and bighorn sheep herds is all the greater.

And, of course, let’s not forget that the Bitterroot National Forest is home to the infamous "Burned Area Recovery Plan."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Community Protection and Local Economy Alternative
In response to the harmful parts of the Bitterroot National Forest's Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuels Reduction project, conservation groups created a collaborative alternative that would provide far superior wildfire protection to the East Fork community, protect old-growth forests and elk and bighorn sheep winter grounds and implement bona-fide restoration activities within the East Fork area using the Restoration Principles as a guide.

If you would like more information about this project, please contact the Native Forest Network at 406.542.7343 or nfn@wildrockies.org.