Seeley, Mont. – September 28, 2023 – Due to some technical issues with the inbox for accepting comments, the Lolo National Forest is extending the scoping period for Highway 83 North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface Project to October 3, 2023.
The project includes vegetation and road management activities that aim to reduce fuels, restore vegetation conditions, maintain and improve aquatic and riparian habitat for species like grizzly bears and bull trout, provide for public health and safety and contribute wood products that contribute to the local and regional economy.
“Several folks have had trouble submitting their comments due to issues with the online comment program, so we extended the comment period providing additional time for folks to get their comments in,” said Quinn Carver, District Ranger, Seeley Lake Ranger District on the Lolo National Forest.
The project is located within the Seeley-Swan Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), in some of the most at risk firesheds in the nation. This WUI is designated by the Seeley-Swan Community Fire Protection Plan, a component of the Missoula County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Fuel break treatments are proposed adjacent to Montana State Highway 83 from Seeley Lake to the Flathead National Forest boundary.
“The proposed harvest and prescribed burning treatments are critical to protecting communities from wildfires,” said Carver. “As we saw with the Colt fire, when fire enters a treated area, it loses momentum which gives firefighters a higher probability of success with wildfire suppression efforts.”
The project was first announced in 2020 with the forest conducting public outreach efforts and engaging with various partners especially the Southwestern Crown Collaborative to address the safety concerns and health of the forest.
“This project was discussed quite extensively over the last two and a half years,” said Carver. “Prior to that, ideas and concepts were discussed when the Missoula County Community Wildfire Protection Plan was developed. This project will implement the wildfire protection plan and bonus projects like stream crossings and aquatic organism passages.”
This project aligns with the USDA Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy that works with partners to protect communities and improve the resilience of America’s Forests. This crisis is being driven by declining forest health in the West, which is due to a combination of overgrown forests following a century of fire suppression and a warming climate with record-breaking drought.
The problem is compounded by expanding development in fire-prone areas. The strategy includes an increase in fuels and forest health treatments by up to four times the current treatment levels in the West.
Increased tree mortality from insects and disease is also a serious concern. The project area has dead and dying trees from a major infestation of Douglas-fir bark beetle. These trees are a fire hazard as well as a safety concern for the public who like to recreate within the project area at places like Tamarack resort, and the popular Alva and Rainey campgrounds.
To help the Forest Service implement the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the Secretary of Agriculture invoked the emergency authority, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Section 40807), across 250 high risk firesheds in the western United States earlier this year. The law authorizes the Forest Service to take emergency actions to protect public health and safety, critical infrastructure, and natural resources on National Forest System lands from destructive wildfires. The Lolo National Forest contains nine of the highest risk firesheds in the nation, two of which are in the North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface – Hwy 83 project area: 278 Condon and 341 Barite.
The Chief of the Forest Service approved the Highway 83 Project North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface to be implemented as an Emergency Action Determination project. As a result of the Emergency Action Determination, the project will not be subject to the pre-decisional objection review process. However, this project has been built with ongoing collaboration and review by local partner organizations, and this collaboration with partners and input from the general public will continue through the Environmental Assessment process and decision. The Emergency Action Determination only suspends the objection process, but not any other part of the public participation process. Several additional points of clarification or suggestions have been offered through scoping comment already which the Lolo will be looking at for further refinement of the proposed action.
Your comments specific to this project and/or to individual sites and resources are valuable in helping to identify issues, develop alternatives to the proposed action, and refine the analysis.
Comments may be sent electronically by clicking the “Comment/Object on Project” button on the righthand side of the project webpage found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/lolo/?project=64580
Post mail and/or hand deliver by October 3 to:
ATTN: North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface – Highway 83
Seeley Lake Ranger District
3583 Highway 83
Seeley Lake, MT 59868
Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered; however, anonymous comments will not provide the Agency with the ability to provide the respondent with subsequent environmental documents.
For more information or questions concerning the project, please contact Quinn Carver, Seeley Lake District Ranger at (406) 677-3905.
For more information about the Lolo National Forest, please visit the website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/lolo or follow updates on Facebook and X.
