Forest planning salvage sales in Trail Creek Fire area

The Flathead National Forest and Spotted Bear Ranger District will likely unveil plans for salvage sales of timber burned in the Trail Creek Fire near Spotted Bear next month, said Forest spokeswoman Teresa Wenum.

The Forest isn’t releasing much detail on the sale until a full proposal is completed, Wenum noted.

The Forest will not be offering salvage sales on the Bear Creek Fire, which burned just south of Trail Creek.

The Trail Creek Fire burned 22,200 acres both in and out of wilderness, primarily north of the Spotted Bear River Road. The fire also burned through timber sales that had yet to be harvested. It was a controversial fire in that the Forest claimed that some of the timber sales may have been harvested if they weren’t litigated by environmental groups. But the environmental groups vigorously denied that claim, noting the courts never granted an injunction to stop the sales from going forward.

Whatever the case, the salvage sales will likely go through another round of environmental review, because conditions on the ground have changed.

The original timber sales were designed to thin the forest to help stands of ponderosa pine and to reduce risk of wildfire.

The Bear Creek Fire was a much larger blaze. It started on the east side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir on the slopes above the Bunker Creek Road and raced eastward into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It burned more than 70,000 acres from Bunker Creek to Wall Creek, which is deep in the wilderness.

Bear Creek also burned through outfitter camps at Meadow Creek Gorge and at Gorge Creek.

Both fires were caused by lightning.

Firewood cutting has been closed in both fire areas, though as snow falls, access is limited anyway. 

The East Side Reservoir road has a seasonal closure beginning Dec. 1 to protect wildlife that winters near Spotted Bear.