Bitterroot National Forest

Annual climbing restrictions are now in effect north of Hamilton on the Bitterroot National Forest.

Conservation group Trout Unlimited is getting $40 million from the federal government to fund watershed restoration efforts in national forests across the country, including here in Montana.

Extreme heat and bone-dry conditions are prompting officials to raise the fire danger and implement burning restrictions in parts of western Montana.

Continued hot, dry conditions prompted the Bitterroot National Forest Monday to bump the fire danger up a notch to “Very High.”

The Hog Trough fire is burning about 300 acres in the Sapphire Wilderness Study Area in both the Bitterroot and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests.

Montana fire officials are reminding the public of fire danger across the state approaching the Fourth of July holiday. The Flathead, Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests are all currently under moderate fire danger.

The Bitterroot National Forest will review its draft plan and take public comment during a Wednesday meeting held virtually starting at 6 p.m.

The three-year project is expected to treat over 10,000 acres of National Forest lands. Much of the work will take place where homes adjoin or intersect with forest land. Treatments will include prescribed fire, commercial timber harvests and non-commercial thinning.

The Bitterroot National Forest is again moving forward with a logging and prescribed burn project east of Corvallis. The agency released another draft record of decision for the Gold Butterfly Project Friday.

Work to address critical deferred maintenance projects through the Great American Outdoors Act will soon begin on national forests in Montana.Some…