HAMILTON – After receiving just two comments – both positive – on a proposal to thin forested lands on the state-owned Threemile Wildlife Management Area, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials will seek final approval of the project next month.
The comment period officially ended earlier this week on the proposal to thin about 400 acres on the 6,169-acre game range.
FWP Region 2 wildlife manager Mike Thompson said he hopes to put the project before the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission at its April meeting.
The commission gave its tentative approval last July, but the process required time for public comment before it could move forward.
“Even just considering the few comments we received, it seems people support the idea of forest management to enhance wildlife habitat and understand that you can have too many trees in the wrong place, especially with our history of fire suppression,” Thompson said. “That was a new concept once, but people seem pretty much on board now.”
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If the commission approves the project at its April meeting, that should give Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employees time to get the timber project marked this year.
FWP officials worked closely with DNRC forestry experts to create the proposal focused on opening up the forest to protect larger trees and create space for aspen stands now being crowded out by conifer encroachment.
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The Threemile WMA was acquired by the state in 1967 as winter range for elk in the Sapphire Mountains.
Since then, there hasn’t been any forest management on the property. Forest stands have been hit hard by pine beetle infestations and officials worry that any fire could become a stand-replacement event.
Beyond marking the stand, Thompson said work this spring and summer would be limited to getting the road ready for truck traffic.
Actual logging would wait until after next fall’s hunting season concludes.
“We will wait on that until we have frozen ground and snow to minimize soil disturbance,” Thompson said.
Plans call for leaving the site open through the summer and fall months to the public. The wildlife management area is closed to the public in the winter and spring to protect wintering wildlife.
The proposed project is just south of an area that burned last summer. That fire orphaned two mountain lion kittens.
This thinning project is considered a trial run for a potential larger effort sometime in the future on the wildlife management area, Thompson said.
