The South Moccasin Fire located just North of Lewistown, Montana began on October 4th, 2021. A total of 12,800 acres were burned by this fire. Following inspection and some preliminary mapping, approximately 7,200 acres of privately owned timbered land was burned. Extreme and abnormal fire behavior was driven by severe drought conditions and extremely high winds. 90 to 95 percent of forested acres were lost in this fire leaving the mountain devoid of vegetation. Forest stands were predominately ponderosa pine and lodgepole. Based on inspections done by local NRCS field staff and MSU extension, this fire burned extremely hot and all timbered acres should be reseeded. There is a lack of grass seed bank in timbered areas and will not likely re-establish on its own in a timely manner to prevent weed infestation and significant erosion. The goal of this initiative is to reseed and revegetate timbered acres in order to reduce current and future erosion as well as reduce future weed infestation.
Location: Fergus County
The following photos were taken in the aftermath of the South Moccasin Fire October, 2021:
Download a detailed map of the South Moccasin Proposed Seeding Area (PDF; 1.3 MB)
Applicable Conservation Practices
There is a limited suite of practices available for this Targeted Implementation Plan (TIP).
- 342 Critical Area Planting
Detailed information on conservation practice standards and specifications can be found in Section IV of the Field Office Technical Guide.
Application
Applications are accepted on a continual basis, however, NRCS establishes application ranking dates for evaluation, ranking and approval of eligible applications. Apply by the Feb. 1, 2022, application ranking date for the current funding cycle.
Contact the Lewistown NRCS field office for more information at 406-708-3011.
Ranking Criteria
NRCS uses these questions to evaluate eligible applications for this project and to prioritize applications for potential funding. In addition, NRCS uses the Conservation Assessment Ranking Tool (CART) for all application assessment and ranking. Learn more about CART.
Applicability Question
- Do the offered acres fall within the boundary as identified acres impacted by the South Moccasin Fire on October 4th, 2021?
Local Ranking Questions
- Does the application include a predominantly native species seed mix to be seeded on affected acres?
- Will the affected acres be seeded in coordination or jointly with neighboring landowners?
Applications are ranked based on national, state and local natural resource priorities. NRCS will rank your application to determine how well your current and future management system will address those priorities. The state priority resource concerns addressed by this initiative are Degraded Plant Condition, Soil Erosion, and Water Quality Degradation. View Montana and National priorities.
Payment
