Pine beetle plan done

The Swan Lake Ranger District has completed a draft environmental assessment for a project aimed at curbing mountain pine beetles on about 1,300 acres of national forest lands south of Condon.

The draft for the Summit Mountain Pine Beetle Salvage Project outlines three alternative approaches for managing a beetle infestation about 10 miles south of Condon.

"We are proposing to mitigate the effects of a mountain pine beetle infestation and make use of the trees which are dead and dying," said Swan Lake District Ranger Steve Brady.

Aerial surveys did not detect the infestation in 2007, but last year surveys found beetle activity in extensive areas of mostly lodgepole pine stands. Brady concedes the project can't eradicate the infestation, but it can curb it.

The project is also expected to reduce the buildup of fuels for future forest fires, and to provide local economic benefits.

The proposed management actions include timber harvesting with tractor logging systems during the winter season and chipping and burning slash piles. Access to the project areas would include use of existing roads and some temporary road construction.

Go to the Flathead National Forest Web site at: http://fs.fed.us/r1/flathead for more information.