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Success Story

Joint Chiefs’ Fuels Reduction Projects Cross Boundaries in the Name of Conservation

Mountain valley seen from forested foreground with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

How one small area of northern Montana is making a huge impact on forest fire prevention.

All too often, you hear about things needing fixing, yet red tape and roadblocks prevent any real progress from happening. Members of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Forest Service, along with the cooperation of Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), and involved counties are partnering up to break that trend. 

Together, they are investing in conservation and restoration to make a positive impact in the tree-dense, high fire risk areas of Libby and Kalispell, Montana.

The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Initiative was created to reduce wildfire threats, protect water quality, and supply, and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species—and in this case, the community members who call Lincoln and Flathead counties home.

Libby Surround, Lincoln County

Three men look up at trees in a thinned pine forest
Eric Kedish (L), U.S. Forest Service Skillbridge intern, Gary Kedish (C), Kootenai National Forest Partnership Coordinator, and NRCS District Conservationist Brian Ressel. This area was treated within the boundaries of the Libby Surround Stewardship Joint Chiefs' project.

Currently in the beginning of the multi-year Joint Chiefs’ Libby Surround Project, NRCS District Conservationist, Brian Ressel explains that NRCS has been working hard to get this project in motion for three years before it was selected in 2022.

“Here in Lincoln County, this will be our fourth forestry project area,” says Ressel who explains they are probably the most forested county in the entire state with 99% of the land base in timber.

The Montana Forest Action Plan, has identified Lincoln County as one of the highest risk counties for forest fire. Of particular concern is the county’s wildland urban interface – an area where communities or developed areas transition to undeveloped wildlands. 

“The premise of this project is really protecting the community of Libby,” he says. Currently, this part of the project is focusing on the east side of Libby. Years 2 and 3 will look at the west side and southeast near the airport where the Forest Service has planned projects.

Whereas in the past, agencies tended to work separately, today’s leadership is pushing agencies to work together in the hopes of being more effective.

Gary Kedish, Kootenai National Forest Partnership Coordinator, has been working along with Ressel on the Libby Surround Project from the start.

In addition to working with the NRCS and the Libby Ranger District, set on the Kootenai River in the Kootenai National Forest, as well as representatives of Lincoln County; Kedish credits the Lincoln County Firesafe Council,  American Forest Foundation, Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition, Stimson Lumber Company, and Montana Department of Natural Resources using the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) as active and critical partners of the Libby Surround Joint Chiefs’ Project.

“The Kootenai Forest probably has the biggest GNA program in the state right now,” Kedish says, explaining that the Libby Surround includes the Ripley and Hoodoo Project areas and spans approximately 263,000 acres in size, including State and private lands.

All Forest Service projects need to complete the National Environmental Protect Act (NEPA), essentially a multi-year environmental review involving public comment. “For the most part we get really positive comments back from the local communities,” Kedish says.

Through the cooperation of all agencies involved, they will be able to make road improvements and better fire breaks, install gates and barriers for grizzly bear protection, and implement other forms of restoration work.

Conservation Practices in Lincoln County

Forest treatment is a combination of several practices, including timber sales, thinning operations, fuels treatments, mastication, and pile burning where warranted. Burning can be a challenge because of restrictions to the airshed.

When it comes to deciding which practices to use, the agencies consider things like the home ignition zone which is the immediate area surrounding the home. Treating this area improves the defensibility of the home against fire risks. “We call that a fuel break,” says Ressel.

“The majority of our treatments will be non-commercial thinning or slashing,” he says. Crews often come in with hand saws to achieve canopy separation and reduce some of the ground fuels. 

According to Ressel, the NRCS obligated roughly $610,000 for just this year with more to come. The U.S. Forest Service has planned $650,000 this year and expects additional funds for the next couple years. 

“The Joint Chiefs is the first step in a lot bigger things in the future,” says Gary Kedish. The Kootenai Forest is one of the top 10 landscapes nationally for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding in addition to what they’re doing with the Joint Chiefs to increase the number of acres treated towards the 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. 
In addition to traditional on the ground practices, the Joint Chiefs’ Project is getting a boost from innovative technology as well.

Enter Eric Kedish, an Active-Duty Airforce member nearing the end of a 20-year career. He is taking advantage of the Department of Defense SkillBridge Program, which with Command approval, enables service members to take the last six months of their career as an intern with outside industry (i.e., Region 1 of the U.S. Forest Service). Having spent decades as a GIS spatial analyst in the Air Force, he signed up for the GIS program, which led him to Libby. 

“Most of those skills that I learned in the Air Force directly translate to the GIS world here in the Forest Service,” says Eric Kedish. He mentions Lidar, raster data and imagery analysis through which he can look at our nation’s forests to help develop data sets and tell compelling stories using that data through GIS. “Which translates in our leaders being able to make better decisions.”

The History of Montana Forest Management

Men walk through a forest area so dense they are difficult to see.
Gary Kedish (R), Kootenai National Forest Partnership Coordinator, and NRCS District Conservationist Brian Ressel walk through a dense, untreated area within the project boundary.

Following the Great Fire of 1910, also known as the “Big Burn” that impacted western Montana and north Idaho, there was a push to protect the land zone and stop fires before they got started. This led to fire suppression for generations.

At the same time, with population growth and residential spread across the counties, the natural involvement from fire was lost where previously it would have come through and basically managed the land itself.  

In addition to fire suppression and 100 years of fuel buildup, Ressel says “You add into the mix record heat or drought in a given year and you have the recipe for disaster—and that’s where we are now.”

In addition to the environmental impact, the reduction in the logging industry affected Libby economically as it had been historically a timber town. There is no longer a major mill in Lincoln County, according to Ressel who offers that employment opportunities that may come as part of the Joint Chiefs’ Project and could have a positive economic impact on the area.

“It’s sort of an added bonus for these projects,” says Ressel. 

Overcoming a Daunting Task

While the task of managing thousands of acres of forest may seem daunting to most, Ressel views the Joint Chiefs’ Project as an opportunity for success.

“Just in our county we have millions of acres. How do you put a dent in an issue that big? That’s where our group comes together. We’re trying to prioritize communities,” he says.

“Part of determining those priorities is looking at what we’ve done in the past and what we’ve planned for the future,” adds Kedish. “We can’t do it with just a handful of people. It’s going to take a coordinated effort.” 

Flathead County Project

“We have a responsibility to the community not to catch on fire,” says landowner Jim Watson, gesturing to the 640-acre hilly forested property he and his wife, Carol, purchased about four years ago. 

The land sits adjacent to Herron Park and overlooks a sprawling residential neighborhood just below.  

Watson says the decision to buy the land came down to preventing it from becoming commercial, and instead keeping it natural and a safe spot for local wildlife. 

“This property has been used by the neighborhood for many decades. And we just, as a neighbor, did not want to see it get divided and subdivided,” he says.  

The acres were formerly in commercial timber hands. First by Plum Creek Timber Co. who then sold to Weyerhaeuser, who was considering selling their holdings to Southern Pine Plantations before the Watsons decided to put in their bid.  

“I love forestry and so being able to have this and manage it for forestry and do good forestry work is very important,” says Watson.

The Watsons, who moved to Kalispell (Carol’s hometown) in 2001, serve or have served on a variety of boards and volunteer positions, including the Montana Tree Farm Program, Winter Wildlands Alliance, Flathead Parks Board, Montana Land Alliance, and Foy’s to Blacktail Trails, among others.

Joining Forces

In 2020, Watson applied for the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which provides non-industrial forest managers like him with financial resources and technical help to address natural resource concerns. 

“It takes a lot of boots on the ground just to memorize what’s out there,” he says.

The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Project was just coming into play, providing financial resources he was looking for beyond EQIP that would enable him to improve his forest health and reduce wildfire risk through conservation efforts.

NRCS Soil Conservationist Karli Becher explains NRCS has worked collaboratively with the DNRC, the U.S. Forest Service, and Flathead County to put a plan together, specifically in this area that was identified in the Montana Forest Action Plan as being an area in need.

She explains the FireSafe Flathead group, comprised of NRCS, Flathead National Forest, Montana DNRC, Flathead County, Northwest Montana Hazardous Fuels Program, and the National Forest Foundation among other partners is the reason they applied for and were awarded the Joint Chief’s project, acknowledging the power of having a good partnership.  

She also credits Watson for taking the initiative to get involved by having gone through the stewardship classes offered through the Montana Tree Farm System as well as working with a forester. “He and his forester have a management plan that they did on their own.” 

“We hope it will bear fruit,” Watson says. “It’s difficult doing forestry work because the margins are so slim, and the climate is difficult.”  

A challenge he faces, and why financial assistance is so vitally important to him to be able to continue to implement conservation practices is that one of the former property owners had already cut the larger trees before Watson arrived. He wants to avoid cutting down the smaller leave trees to create revenue.

The Joint Chiefs’ project will enable him to improve the forest properly. Without funding, he couldn’t afford to do the needed work by himself.

“It allows me to do understory management but leave the over story and wildlife cover and that’ where all the carbon is.”

Tending the Forest

Watson describes one area with a beautiful overlook as an example of open structure forest. “But when you’re on the ground it feels closed and so there’s a lot of habitats on the edge and a lot of open country that elk and turkey can use.”

He’s part of the American Tree Farm System and Montana Tree Farm System, which requires he have an active management plan that gets reviewed every five years. They are also independently audited to make sure the forest is being maintained accordingly. 

“The Montana Tree Farm Program is different than all the other states,” he says. In other states, you’re pretty much required to have a professional forester write your management plan for you, but in Montana they have a three-day course that teaches landowners to write their own plan in conjunction or being mentored by a professional forester that works for or is a volunteer with Montana Tree Farm.  

“In its simplest form, it’s awesome, so everyone is engaged into learning forestry management practices so they’re more apt to actually doing something,” Watson says. 

Although Watson has done some thinning and other management, he is looking forward to doing much more—going through and taking out a lot more while leaving some of the thickets for wildlife coverage. 

Protecting the People and the Wildlife

“Homes are right there,” Watson says looking down toward a housing development below.
When it comes to making sure the forest is in good condition, he says he feels like it’s people like him who can do something about it.

He lights up when he talks about the diversity of wildlife he’s seen.

“It’s going to get better here on the property, but in general it’s quite good,” he says. According to Watson, they’ve got wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, badgers, boxers, raptors, great owls, elk, lots of white tail deer, and a huge population of ground squirrels reaching into the hundreds of thousands.

Public and Private Ownerships Working Together

Watson says his property does not directly border any US Forest Service property, but is adjacent to Foy’s Community Forest, as well as the county park just a few miles south. Regardless of exact coordinates, he says it’s been all about bringing as many resources to the table as they can to get the work done to protect and improve the forest for the surrounding communities and the wildlife.

“We are the wildland urban interface,” says Watson, adding that the Montana Forest Action Plan has identified the area as a high risk from wildfire. 

“It’s been my observation that people want to do something, but they’re terrified of doing the wrong thing and so they are stuck in indecision mode,” says Watson, adding “People want their forest to always be like it is now, but it’s not like it was yesterday…they’re always changing.”

And just like the changing forest, the Watsons hope—on behalf of their neighbors and the wildlife they’ve come to love—to be part of the positive change happening in part to help preserve and protect the hillsides surrounding Kalispell.

More Information

To learn more about NRCS conservation assistance, please visit your local service center or NRCS - Montana.

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