North Fork Road not in RAC budget

Flathead National Forest officials, like those at Glacier National Park, are hopeful the budget deal passed by Congress just before the holidays will help its coffers.

The final numbers for the Forest Service will come out later this month after the appropriations bills are passed by the House and Senate in the next few weeks.

Both the National Park Service and the Forest Service were dealing with federal budget sequestration cuts. The budget deal should make planning easier for the Flathead Forest over the next two years, the duration of the deal, according to Flathead Forest spokesman Wade Muehlhof.

In addition, a helium security bill passed by Congress in November contained funding for the Secure Rural Schools Act. The act provides federal funding as payment-in-lieu-of-taxes to counties with national forest lands. It also provides funding for Resource Advisory Committee projects, which include trail maintenance, weed control, roads and other projects on the Flathead Forest.

Flathead Forest officials are proposing $266,928 in RAC project funding for fiscal year 2013 — a 5 percent decrease from 2012 and a 10 percent decrease from 2011.

But even so, 24 projects should see RAC funding this year. What won’t see funding is dust control on the North Fork Road. About $59,000 was approved for crushed gravel treatment on the road, but no money for dust control.

Blankenship Road and Ashley Lake Road will see funding for dust control.