Commissioners hear Cedar Thom and West Mulan salvage update from Forest Service

SUPERIOR – During their weekly meeting Thursday the County Commissioners received an update from the Mineral County Forest Service after weeks of silence due to the federal government shutdown.

The main subject of the update was the Cedar Thom project. According to Tawnya Brummett, district ranger for the Superior ranger station, the stir the issue has raised within the community brought the issue to the forefront. She said the community support for the project has also been significant.

Brummett said the day after furlough ended, the regional office called her for a meeting to discuss the project. After the meeting, many of the directors of the regional office expressed support for the project and began work to send money toward it.

“I’m feeling more confident about the project than I have in a really long time,” said Brummett.

Cedar Thom is a forest maintenance project with the primary goal of removing forest debris from the area while keeping roads maintained.

During the meeting, representatives from Fish and Wildlife Services raised objections to the Cedar Thom plans. The objections were mainly in regards to sediment and how logging trucks could knock it into Cedar Creek and affect the bull trout populations. The road’s proximity to the creek was also cited as a possible source of sediment.

Since the meeting, Brummett’s office has sent Fish and Wildlife Services a new proposal for the plan and is waiting for their feedback on any biological concerns. Brummett said the plan may be available as early as December of this year. She also stressed the importance of making sure everything is worded properly when these plans are drafted to avoid legal problems.

“We need to make these plans litigation proof,” Brummett said. “We need to make sure and cross all our T’s and dot all our I’s on [the plans].”

Brummett was confident Fish and Wildlife Service would agree with the newest plan. In anticipation of the plan’s acceptance, Forest Service personnel have gone out to map areas and work out what will be done.

Brummett said her teams are ready to go as soon as the plan is approved and signed. If no new objections are raised, the Forest Service will be set to start work.

Another issue addressed in the update was the reorganization of the Forest Service staff. Currently, the office is in the final phases of their reorganization and will place people in new positions within the next week. This is one of the most complicated phases as the employees who have yet to be assigned are allowed to voice their preference of assignment.

According to Brummett, one complication that has come from the reorganization has been in how to balance the staff between the office in Superior and the one in Plains. Most employees wanted to work in Superior.

“Maybe it’s [because of] the proximity to Missoula or the interstate, I’m not sure,” Brummett said. “That tends to be the way it is … we don’t want a couple districts that are way off balance, where I have 25 and [another] has two.”

One of the final items discussed was salvage projects from the West Mullan Fire. After the fire, there was still usable wood in the area that could be salvaged and put to use.

According to Brummett, there is some salvage Forest Service personnel can take care of. However, the people who would be sent out to create a temporary road and do the salvage operations are the same people who are scheduled on other projects.

“They’re up to their eyeballs in other projects right now,” Brummett said. “If we still felt that was a priority, we could pull them off of those other things and put them on [West Mullan].”

With the workers freed up, there would be other complications to consider with the salvage operations. It was pointed out how much of the land in the area is privately owned and would not be Forest Service jurisdiction. Forest Service personnel would be unable to salvage any wood in these areas.

While personnel could be sent up, it would be expensive to build the temporary roads and get some pieces of equipment to the area. It was questioned whether there was enough salvageable wood at the fire site to be worth the expenses and project reorganization.

A field trip will be arranged to look over the area in person so a more informed decision can be made.