'Fireproofing' watershed not possible

A plan to lessen wildfire impacts to the city reservoir is not in the works

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

City officials learned about the threat wildfire poses to its municipal watershed during a June 9 meeting with representatives of large landholdings in the Whitefish area.

A high-intensity wildfire in the watershed could seriously impact use of the reservoir and force the city to use Whitefish Lake for city drinking water, but no plans are slated to address the problem.

The city's reservoir is fed from Second and Third creeks, which flow off Big Mountain and are diverted by intakes to the city facility. The reservoir is not fed by Haskill Creek.

The Second Creek watershed includes about 1,800 acres, of which 480 acres is owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. and the rest is on the Flathead National Forest.

The Third Creek watershed is much smaller — about 800 acres. About 90 acres is owned by Stoltze, and the rest is Flathead Forest land.

Stoltze general manager Chuck Roady said the company has a good reputation as stewards of the 12,000 acres of timberland surrounding Whitefish.

"We aren't stewards of the land just for the mill, but because it's the right thing to do," he said.

Roady noted that Stoltze lands provide valuable recreation and wildlife habitat that has long been left open to the public. But growth and development has been slowly creeping up the mountainside, and with that the potential for more city regulation.

"Right now, we manage the land as forests, but if that changes, we need flexibility, and we need to maintain our accesses," he said.

Former Stoltze general manager Ron Buentemeier recalled how the company sold the current 20-acre reservoir site to the city for $10 — it took a while, he said, because the city wrangled over the price.

Buentemeier suggested during a growth policy meeting last year that the city purchase the Stoltze land in the Second and Third creeks drainage. Watersheds in most states are closed to the public, and the Whitefish watershed was once closed, he said.

"Opening up access to Stoltze land could lead to problems," Buentemeier said.

A high-intensity fire in the watershed could seriously impact use of the city reservoir, Flathead National Forest planner Bryan Donner said. Once vegetation is burned away, increased erosion could carry fine sediments into the reservoir.

Donner said the Forest is interested in preventing a running crownfire in the city's watershed, but it's hard to fireproof the area. The area is too steep for mechanized equipment, so a forest-fuel reduction project there would be very expensive.

Furthermore, firefighting efforts could be hampered if Forest Service bombers are not allowed to drop retardant in a watershed used for municipal drinking water.

Forest planners first took a look at reducing forest-fuels in the watershed after the city made a request in 2004, Donner said. An analysis based on existing data concluded that the risk was small because the watershed's south-facing slopes are drier, so trees there are smaller in diameter.

Later, a Forest planner studied the watershed for a project leading to his certification, Donner said. The report concluded that forest-fuel reduction on about 500 acres could lessen the potential for a high-intensity fire, but it wouldn't eliminate the risk entirely.

Because slopes there range from 38 to 74 percent, and mechanized equipment are usually limited to slopes under 40 percent, the report concluded that work would have to be done by hand and could cost upwards of $500,000, Donner said.

Councilor Nick Palmer asked Donner at the meeting how soon the Forest could act if the city was willing to help with the costs.

Donner said that because the draft Flathead National Forest Plan has been held up in the courts and not approved, the Forest is still operating under the 1986 plan, which affects future fuel-reduction projects.

The Forest has partnered with other entities in the past for fuel-reduction projects, such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but a project in the city's watershed would be at least two years away, he told the Pilot.