Forest Service briefs Broadwater County on recreation projects and new timber-management plan

Townsend Ranger District officials updated Broadwater County commissioners on recreation projects, a new timber‑management plan and a broad prescribed‑fire decision.

"The Gypsy Lake day‑use project up Duck Creek has been completed," Aaron Weber, District Ranger for the Townsend Ranger District, told the board. He said the site now includes four ADA‑accessible day‑use areas with picnic tables and fire rings, and that two vault toilets in Hellgate Canyon are slated for installation in July or August.

Weber also described the recently signed Montana tri‑forest sustained‑yield unit management plan, which aims to encourage timber harvested within the unit to be processed locally rather than shipped outside the local commuting area. "The idea is to try to keep the timber industry afloat and help the local economy grow," he said, adding that appendices list local milling facilities and that the plan is intended to spur demand for local mills.

Cody Chrismore, the district's fire management officer, said a forestwide prescribed‑fire NEPA decision was signed this spring. "That decision gives us the ability to treat with thinning or prescribed fire, including broadcast burning, across the forest outside wilderness areas," Chrismore said. Locally, the district has begun work in the Elhorns, with Norris Gulch as the current project; future treatments could cover about 5,000 acres across Crow Creek, Slim Sam and adjacent areas.

Chrismore cautioned about seasonal variability in fire risk; local fire‑weather indices are in the 70th–80th percentile and a strong El Niño pattern could produce wet or dry outcomes depending on storm tracks. He said prescribed‑fire work and mechanical thinning are being used to reduce conifer encroachment and lower fuels ahead of possible broadcast burning in future seasons.

Both officials said they will share maps and supporting documents with the county and offered to coordinate field visits for residents interested in restoration work, whitebark pine plantings and other projects.

No formal action was required of the board; the briefing was informational and officials said they would provide further details and outreach to the community as project schedules firm up.