The photos below were taken January 28, 2005 during a Native
Forest Network monitoring trip to the Tepee Creek area within
the Middle East Fork project. All photos by Native Forest
Network.
If you would like more information about this project, please
contact the Native Forest Network at 406.542.7343 or nfn@wildrockies.org.
Monitoring trips are planned throughout the winter and spring.
We hope you will join us!
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| On our way to the logging units in
the Tepee Creek area we pass through a huge field. A small
sub-division lies just beyond the field in a predominantly
lodgepole pine forest. The field provides a good resource
to this sub-divsion in terms of a fuel break and a "safety"
zone for firefighters and community members in case of
a wildfire. To find out more about the actions conservation
groups propose within the home ignition zone (within 60
meters of homes and community protection zone (within
400 meters of homes) see our Community
Protection and Local Economy Alternative. |
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Today's monitoring trip will take us
up Tepee Creek (blue-line just right of center) where
we'll be hiking into the logging units in the center of
the map colored green and blue. The green units are proposed
for clearcut "regeneration" logging while the
blue units are "commercial thinning" units.
Keep in mind this is just a very small portion of the
entire Middle East Fork project area. Note how heavily
logged and roaded the areas around the proposed logging
units are. |
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| This is part of a "commercial
thinning" unit next to Tepee Creek. We hiked through
most of this unit and found some spots, such as this one,
fairly open with mainly ponderosa pine and some Douglas-fir
mixed in. We would view the area pictured above as a healthy
forest well within the range of natural variarition. |
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University of Montana forestry graduate
student David Mildrexler measures an 8-inch diameter
Douglas-fir tree growing next to the large ponderosa
pine tree in the background. The point of the photo
is to show that in this particular "commercial
thinning" the Forest Service could effectively
reduce fuels by focusing on small trees such as these
– not larger Doulgas-fir trees as is often the
case. |
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Bitterroot Valley resident Larry
Campbell with Friends of the Bitterroot stands next
to a larger Doulgas-fir tree within the "thinning"
unit. Many Forest Service "thinning" projects
result in logging of larger Douglas-fir trees in favor
of ponderosa pine. We are unsure what the Forest Service's
exact perscription for this unit is. Clearly, if the
Forest Service was seriously focusing on fuel reduction
trees like this would not be logged. |
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Annie Diephuis spots another large
Douglas-fire tree within this "commercial thinning"
unit. |
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| From within the "commercial
thinning" unit we can look across Tepee Creek to
a part of unit 28, which the Forest Service has proposed
for a clearcut "regeneration harvest." |
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This photo is taken from within unit
28 just a little further up the drainage from the photo
at left. Cameron measures a large Douglas-fir the Forest
Service wants to cut down. |
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| Within this proposed clearcut unit
we are stopped in our tracks by at least eight woodpeckers
hammering at the tree trucks and branches above us. The
bird watching throughout these areas to be logged is just
amazing. |
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Further up the ridge we stumble upon
a large elk antler shed the previous winter. Much of the
logging as part of this "healthy forest" project
is proposed in critical habitat for elk and bighorn sheep.
The East Fork drainage of the Bitterroot River is known
for its excellent big-game hunting. |
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| Through the trees we spot a former
clearcut adjacent to a proposed logging unit on the ridge. |
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Looking in the other directly we see
another former clearcut, likely called either a "shelterwood"
or "seed-tree" cut in Forest Service vernacular. |
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| Beautiful,
old ponderosa pine trees were found through out the
Tepee Creek area. |
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If you like to explore nature, hike and view
wildlife join us on a monitoring trip. Contact the
Native Forest Network at 406.542.7343 or nfn@wildrockies.org
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