Public comment open for USFS timber project near Troy

The Western News, Libby, Mont.
·2 min read

Oct. 3—The Three Rivers Ranger District of the Kootenai National Forest is seeking input on the proposed action for the Trojan Defense Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project.

The project is located west and southwest of Troy, Montana with the area of analysis being a mixed ownership of and intermingled within rural areas of Forest Service, private timber lands and residential homes and businesses outside of the Troy city limits.

The project area is also located within the Wildfire Crisis Strategy — Kootenai Complex and the Lincoln County Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

The project area includes 4,300 acres of Forest Service land from the South side road to Iron Creek Road, including McConnell Mountain, Callahan Creek and Iron Creek.

The project is designed to reduce hazardous fuels surrounding the Troy community. Therefore, this project will be designed as part of ongoing cross-boundary efforts to connect past, present and future activities to reduce and mitigate wildfire threats to the Troy community.

Collaborators include the U.S. Forest Service, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Lincoln County. Please note that any proposed treatments would occur only on Forest Service lands.

The purpose and need identified for this project is to reduce hazardous fuels in the project area and manage stands to increase forest health and resilience.

The proposal includes slashing, piling, pruning, underburning and pre-commercial thinning in non-harvest fuel units, and commercial harvest and burning in harvest fuel units, temporary and permanent road construction, and road reconstruction.

A notice of the proposed action, supporting documentation and maps are available on the project page on the Kootenai National Forest website:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=64354.

More information can be obtained from Lisa Osborn, Project Leader, at 406-295-4693 or lisa.osborn@usda.gov.

Specific written comments on the proposed project will be accepted for 30 calendar days, or until Oct. 30, 2023, following public notification of the legal notice in the Missoulian newspaper on Saturday, Sept. 30. The publication date in the newspaper of record is the exclusive means for calculating the comment period.