After 10 years of planning, appeals and litigation Montana timber sale moves forward

After almost 10 years of planning, appeals and litigation, a nearly 2,900-acre timber sale and forest restoration project will move forward near Townsend. The Cabin Gulch Vegetation Treatment Project originated in 2005 to address a lack of tree diversity and age, making the forest susceptible to continued insect and disease infestation and increasing risk of severe wildfire. The project includes timber harvest, prescribed burning, road improvements and maintenance and some temporary road construction, according to a Helena National Forest news release. “Forest specialists have worked tirelessly over the last nine years to develop this community-based and public-supported project; and then to work equally as hard to provide all of the necessary information throughout the appeals and litigation phases,” Forest Supervisor Bill Avey said. The Cabin Gulch project is part of a more than 15,600-acre project near Deep Creek. In 2012, two conservation groups, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Native Ecosystems Council, filed suit to stop the timber sale over concerns for the Canadian lynx and grizzly bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and white bark pine and big game hiding cover. A district court first imposed and then lifted an injunction over the project. The conservation groups filed a notice to appeal in April 2014, and asked that the injunction be reinstated...more

10 years to do 2,900 acres and people wonder why our forests are burning up.  Keep in mind, the Forest Service controls 191 million acres.