The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) published an 8-page emergency plan that it says addresses catastrophic wind damage done to federal forest land after two weather emergencies.
The project’s scoping document doesn’t disclose which parcels of federal forest land will be logged and treated as part of the emergency plans, but a table shows it could involve more than five million acres spanning across Montana and Idaho’s panhandle.
The notice, issued by the USFS Northern Regional office in Missoula, MT, said that the “emergency salvage” effort is a response to the straight-line and high wind events in December 2025 and April 2026. USFS said that the windstorms created large patches of overturned or “downed” trees.
“Wind-felled and damaged trees of conifer species native to the Northern Rockies are highly susceptible breeding material for associated native bark beetles, including pine engraver beetles, spruce beetle, Douglas-fir beetle and potentially fir engraver and several species of wood boring insects,” the documents said.
The report also said that several years of drought conditions have stressed trees throughout the two states, making them more susceptible to insects.
“The recoverable value of downed and damaged trees decreases with time,” USFS said.
The announcement, which was released on June 22, only allowed public comment through June 29—one week.
USFS officials say that laws addressing emergency conditions allow the government to begin the project before an environmental assessment takes place and before a finding of “no significant impact” is given.
“This project will not be subject to the pre-decisional objection review process,” it said.
USFS said that the emergency orders also allow it to build new temporary roads or conduct road maintenance on existing roads for the timber haul. No clearing actions can happen on land designated “wilderness,” though.
It said the removal project will likely last from three to five years.
The counties in Montana that will be a part of this plan include Lincoln, Flathead, Sanders, Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli and Powell counties. In Idaho, the counties will be Boundary, Bonner, Kootenai, Benewah, Shoshone, Latah, Idaho and Clearwater counties. — Daily Montanan
Republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
