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Forest Service Seeks Comment On Bitterroot Road Management

The U.S. Forest Service has a new plan for land impacted by logging and logging roads near Darby.

"These road systems are basically unraveling before our eyes," says Ed Snook, a hydrologist on the Bitterroot National Forest.

The agency says roads constructed decades ago by Darby Lumber Company were built without water resources in mind, and that’s led to increased sediment levels in area waterways.

Snook says the new plan for the area aims to create a sustainable motorized access system and loop-based motorized routes, including 15 miles of single track trail.  

"It’s an opportunity for us to downsize the road system so that it’s more sustainable over the long run,and we dial back the accelerated erosion associated with them," Nook says.

Several sites with substantial aspen regeneration would also be thinned to reduce competition and promote long-term aspen stands for wildlife habitat.  

Find the environmental assessment and other info for the Darby Lumber Lands Project here.

Public comments on the project are being taken until February 23rd.

Submit comments to:  Chuck Oliver, District Ranger, by one of the following methods:

  • mail: 712 North Main, Darby, Montana, 59829
  • fax: (406) 821-4264
  • email: comments-northern-bitterroot-darby@fs.fed.us  (Please put “Comments on Darby Lumber Lands” in the subject line) in order to be considered. 

Comments on the EA are due February 23, 2015.  For more information about the project contact Ed Snook at (406) 363-7103 or esnook@fs.fed.us. 

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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