Commissioners hear update on West Mullan Fire area

SUPERIOR – Looking over a map, a packed table discussed an update of cleanup and restoration efforts on the area affected by the West Mullan Fire at the weekly County Commissioner’s meeting.

Forest Service personnel have been out to the area to assess the fire’s damage and whether there is enough usable wood on county land to salvage. According to Wanda Smith, timber management advisor, one of the best options for how to proceed would be to declare the project a categorical exclusion, a category to more efficiently document possible environmental effects from a project. She said the operation would qualify as a category 13 project, which has the goal of “recovering economic value from dead and dying trees.” However, Smith said it would be difficult to reach the areas with usable timber.

Most of the area does not have roads and use of a helicopter is out of the question. While some roads exist, most are on private land and would not be available to the Forest Service. This would require the Forest Service to build temporary roads to get equipment and personnel around. However, CE’s only allow half a mile of temporary road to be built and limit the area covered to 250 acres, requiring multiple projects.

“There has been little success in approving a bunch of CE’s all at once,” Smith said.

Smith said another option would be to perform an environmental assessment. This would take approximately a month off the project’s timeline and would allow more roads to be built. However, Smith also said an environmental assessment would likely run into litigation issues. Since it provides more freedom, there are more places for people to object or question the Forest Service’s actions. Whichever option is agreed upon, it was said it would be an expensive project.

While Smith gave no specific figures, she said the project could push the Forest Service’s budget. To compensate, her office might try to get additional funds

“We will request money from the regional office,” Smith said. “We would try to put together a separate team to get the work done.”

According to Tawnya Brummett, district ranger of the Superior ranger station, recent changes made within the Forest Service have changed the project fund regulations. She said the money for all kinds of different projects is now lumped together, with the result of the different projects vying for funds.

“Now you actually have to propose projects and make your best sales pitch to get a project funded,” Brummett said.

Smith said the plan to request more funds would be preferable. From there, she suggested hiring a strike team to begin the process. The group would go out and mark areas where work needed to be done However, this does not mean the Forest Service themselves are idle in the project.

The Forest Service is already working to restore the area and replant the undergrowth. Regardless of the type of project, Smith said the restoration would take approximately two years with the requirement of botanists, wildlife experts and other experts reporting on environmental conditions in the area. She said this process would likely begin next summer once plant life has begun to bloom.

Brummett suggested the County Commissioners, Tricon representatives and local forestry groups devise a proposal on how to proceed in a way where funds for other local projects are not hindered, then she would recommend it to the district office.

Smith stressed the need to make the plans happen soon. She said a lot of smaller trees would be lost as salvageable timber in as little as a year. This was demonstrated with a picture of a group of trees from the West Mullan Fire area. She explained how, in a year, only one large tree would still be usable while the others would rot and be unsalvageable.

“When we send our crews out there to cruise that material, we’ll probably have bigger diameters,” Smith said. “[We will] plan on taking the bigger trees that I know will still be good.”

Smith said her office plans to get the project under way as soon as possible. Reports from botanists and other experts are not required for all aspects of the project, so some work can begin in the winter. Smith said she must get cleared by the forest supervisor in order to begin the first phase.

“We’ll be ready when that decision is signed,” Smith said.