Jardine sits just north of Yellowstone National Park and is surrounded by the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Residents and visitors alike value this landscape for its forests, wildlife, streams and recreational opportunities. It is also a landscape shaped by fire.
TOM PARTIN
The Bear Palmer Project is an effort to address those conditions before they result in the loss of the forests, wildlife habitat, and potentially homes and infrastructure. Jardine is particularly vulnerable because the community is accessed by a single gravel road. The Forest Service recognized that reality when developing this proposal and designed treatments that would reduce hazardous fuels surrounding the community while also improving conditions across the broader landscape.
Forest specialists found extensive evidence that many stands in the project area are under stress. Spruce budworm infestations are widespread and more than two thirds of the lodgepole pine and whitebark pine stands possess characteristics associated with a high susceptibility to mountain pine beetle outbreaks.
The Forest Service also found that many forest stands have become increasingly dense over time. These conditions reduce resilience and increase the likelihood that future disturbances will occur across larger areas and with greater severity.
Aerial photo of landscapes that will be impacted by the Bear Palmer Forest Health Project if the proposal is realized. Jupiter Floros/Chronicle
The proposed project would treat approximately 4,400 acres through a combination of thinning, regeneration harvests, prescribed fire and other vegetation treatments. The goal is to reduce hazardous fuels, improve forest health, and create a landscape that is better able to withstand wildfire, insects, and disease. The project also includes work to improve aspen stands, restore riparian areas where conifers have expanded into meadows and stream corridors and enhance whitebark pine habitat. These are important components of a healthy forest ecosystem and help ensure that management activities provide benefits beyond wildfire risk reduction.
Some critics have suggested the project will alter the character of the area. The reality is that these forests are already changing. Insects continue to spread through vulnerable stands. Trees continue to die. Fuels continue to accumulate. The question facing land managers is whether those changes occur through planned treatments or through the next large wildfire. The Forest Service has proposed a course of action that reduces risk while maintaining the long term health and productivity of the landscape.
The Bear Palmer Project deserves public support because it addresses real problems with practical solutions. The Forest Service spent years studying conditions on the ground and developing a proposal tailored to the needs of this landscape. The agency identified risks to the community, to evacuation routes, to forest health, and to important natural resources. The proposed treatments are intended to reduce those risks while improving the resilience of the surrounding forest.
The decision to move forward under an Emergency Situation Determination is also appropriate. The conditions that contribute to stand replacing wildfire already exist across much of the project area. Waiting for a major fire to threaten Jardine before taking action would be difficult to justify when the need for treatment has already been identified. The purpose of the Emergency Situation Determination is to allow land managers to respond before those risks become disasters.
The employees of the Custer Gallatin National Forest are doing exactly what the public expects of them. They assessed the condition of the forest, identified areas of concern, and developed a plan to address those concerns. We should support their efforts to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health and protect both the community of Jardine and the landscape that makes this corner of Montana such a special place.
Tom Partin is the Montana representative for the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association advocating for active forest management on federal lands. Partin has worked in forestry in the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years.
