The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Service office received $2.8 million in funding from the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Program – which aims to improve “the health and resilience of forest landscapes across National Forest System land and state, tribal and private lands,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website – to implement a series of projects in the Elkhorn Mountain range.
The project will take place on 13,500 acres of Forest Service lands and 6,270 acres of private property within the Elkhorn Cooperative Management Area and include efforts such as meadow and shrubland restoration, and the reintroduction of fire and weed mitigation efforts.
The Forest Service hopes to improve wildlife habitats and restore the landscape to more historic conditions with project completion. It will also reduce the intensity of wildfire and improve watershed, according to the project abstract.
“A century of fire suppression has created unnatural fuel loadings, conifer colonization, homogenous forests and an overall shift in ecosystem processes that threaten to alter the native assemblages of plants and animals,” reads the abstract.
Fire suppression has also impacted plant diversity, and compromised wildlife habitats.
However, the main concern the Forest Service hopes to address with its restoration project is the loss of livelihood: “The main threat to the [Elkhorn Management Area] is the loss of ecosystems that sustain the diversity of plant and animal communities, which in turn support the livelihoods of local landowners, surrounding communities, and provide for the enjoyment of the greater public.”
The first phase in the Elkhorn restoration project will include hand slashing and thinning, chipping of fuels and slash piling on forest service lands. Following this work, the Forest Service may use prescribed burns to reduce surface fuels.
“Reduced fuel loads would aid in managing future fire starts, improving habitat and assist with overall forest health,” reads the abstract. “Climate change in the Northern Rockies is predicted to result in longer, hotter summers. These changes will likely result in extended periods of drought, increased insect attacks, reduced fuel moisture content and will exacerbate severe fire behavior.”
Reducing the severity of fires in the area is especially of concern near McClellan Creek, which provides a portion of East Helena’s municipal water supply.
“This system is vulnerable to contamination from ash and sediment, should a wildfire occur and significantly increase water treatment costs.”
As for private lands participating in the program, maintenance will include the creation of fuel breaks around buildings and treatment for noxious weed invasion.
Burns will start when weather conditions match the proper conditions (humid or snowy).
