Forest management help available for private landowners

OVANDO - Powell County Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is introducing a Targeted Implementation Plan (TIP) for addressing wildfire hazards from biomass accumulation in private forested areas in North Powell County. The project will be active in fiscal years 2023 - 2026. 

According to the North Ovando Fuels Reduction Targeted Implementation Plan, recent changes in weather patterns are creating longer fire seasons and dryer fuel conditions, causing fires to increase in number, size and intensity. This threat is expected to continue due to overly dense forests, increases in insect and disease susceptibility and mortality and the resulting buildup of hazardous fuels. 

Nearly 80% of the Blackfoot Watershed is forested land. Of that 20% is in private,

noncommercial ownership. The TIP is an opportunity to make long-term conservation investments that will benefit forest health, wildlife habitat, private landowners and public safety. 

The impetus for this project came from discussions between the Blackfoot Challenge and the NRCS after the Rice Ridge fire in 2017.

"When the Rice Ridge fire was threatening the Ovando area there was the very real possibility that the foothills of Ovando and McCabe Mountains would be torched as a backfire, " said Brad Weltzein, Blackfoot Challenge Land Steward. "As we processed that after the Rice Ridge fire, it became evident that being proactive with fire management and fuels reduction would be a good policy."

Primary goals and objectives of the TIP are to reduce hazardous fuels to minimize wildfire impacts and decrease the probability of fire events that significantly decrease the forest stand. The TIP is focused on projects that address forest thinning/forest stand improvement, creating fuel breaks for strategic defensible space and slash disposal/woody residue treatment.

NRCS said that desired outcomes of the TIP are wildfire resiliency and increased awareness. Wildfire resiliency means that the ecosystem and community become tolerant to prescribed fire and beneficial wildfire events without the damaging effects of catastrophic wildfire. Community outreach and education will lead to increased  awareness of fire safe practices and increase the number of community members that adopt fire safe practices around their homes and structures.

The project area in North Powell County is north of Highway 200, roughly from Cooper's Lake to the Kozy Korner area on Woodworth Road. The area is 75% forested and encompasses more than 32,000 acres of private land. There is an ongoing TIP project in Missoula County covering over 33,600 acres in the Washoe, Union, Smith and Camas creek areas of Potomac.  

Applications are due by Oct. 1 for the NRCS Fiscal Year 2023-2024. All the applications will be compared to determine the areas of highest risk. Priority is given to applications representing land with 50% or more space exhibiting excessive fuel loads and wildfire risk due to tree mortality and land with 50% or more land overstocked with trees and/or those areas having a skewed composition of tree species. Lands that are adjacent to previous treatment areas will be given priority. 

The TIP project hopes to treat up to 1,000 acres in the Ovando area with a $1 million budget. It is important to note the TIP area is relatively large compared to the planned treatment acres, however, cumulative efforts among partners are intended to increase coverage and fill strategic gaps, said the NRCS.

For more information visit the project website https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/mt/programs/mfc/9502fe69-b67c-4d52-9d75-e56f8f052ff4/. Anyone interested should contact either the Blackfoot Challenge, 406-793-3900, or the Powell County NRCS, 406-415-4046, to have an initial forest assessment and start the application process. There is no obligation or fee to apply.