MTPR

U.S. Forest Service

US Approves Sheep Grazing Research In Grizzly Bear Area

By Keith Ridler - Associated Press • Sep 6, 2018
A sheep research flock at U.S. Sheep Experiment Station
USDA (PD)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federally-run sheep experiment station in eastern Idaho long targeted by environmental groups will resume grazing sheep in the Centennial Mountains of Idaho and Montana next year.

The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station will open on 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) of sheep station land and 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) of U.S. Forest Service land, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Study Says Less Rainfall Is Major Driver Of Western Wildfires

By • Aug 20, 2018
A helicopter flies near the Shellrock Fire NE of Helena Montana, August 15, 2018.
Inciweb


A new study says that less summer precipitation, and longer summer dry spells, are major drivers of increased wildfire activity in the western U.S. It’s contrary to previous understanding that warming temperatures and earlier snowmelt are the only factors in bigger wildfire seasons.

Hungry Lion Logging Project Moves Forward

By • Aug 16, 2018
Hungry Lion planning area and general vicinity.
U.S. Forest Service

The Flathead National Forest said Thursday it will move ahead with a commercial logging and hazardous fuels reduction project just north of Hungry Horse Reservoir.

After Wildfires, Burned Area Rehab Means More Than Tree Planting

By • Aug 8, 2018
The U.S. Forest Service and Montana DNRC work to plant more than 13,000 whitebark pine seedlings in the Swan Mountain Range as a cooperative post-burn restoration project on June 18, 2018.
Nicky Ouellet / MTPR

After a wildfire, forest managers know that a forest can and will bounce back on its own. Still, the U.S. Forest Service doles out millions of dollars each year for post-burn restoration and rehabilitation.

Forest Service Finalizing Salvage Logging Plans For Rice Ridge Burn

By • Aug 6, 2018
Megan Fylling and William Blake try to identify a bird flitting through the trees in a part of the Rice Ridge burn area near Seeley Lake.
Rosie Costain

Salvage logging on a portion of the Rice Ridge Fire burn area near Seeley Lake is set to begin soon. The U.S. Forest Service is finalizing plans to log about 5,600 acres on the 160,000 acres that burned in the biggest wildfire Montana saw last summer.

I recently visited the salvage logging site, about half a mile drive outside Seeley Lake, with Megan Fylling and Willaim Blake. They’re avian biologists, Fylling is with the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab and Blake at MPG Ranch.

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