Timber project planned near Bob Marshall

A proposed timber project on about 5,400 acres in the Swan Valley is under review by the Flathead National Forest.

The Rumbling Owl Fuels Reduction Project would include timber harvest and prescribed fire with the intent of reducing wildfires in the so-called wildland-urban interface. The project is southeast of Condon between Montana 83 and the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

According to the scoping notice, the area includes many private and Forest Service structures, and is important to the outdoor tourism economy. A wildfire in the area would have “devastating consequences,” according to the notice. The proposed harvest and prescribed fire would ultimately help protect those assets, the notice states.