Forest Service completes fix of Hungry Ridge Project plan

The U.S. Forest Service has completed and approved a court-ordered re-analysis of a large restoration, logging and prescribed burning project south of Grangeville.

Forest Supervisor Cheryl Probert signed a draft record of decision for the Hungry Ridge Project that aims to reduce the threat of wildfire in the Mill Creek and Johns Creek drainages off of the South Fork of the Clearwater River.

The do-over was ordered by federal Judge Candy W. Dale at Boise, who agreed with the Friends of the Clearwater that the agency did not follow the 1987 Nez Perce National Forest Plan standards related to counting old-growth timber within the 30,000-acre project area. The group sued the agency in 2021.

Probert said project planners took a new look at old-growth trees in the area and determined the project aligns with the forest plan standards for mature stands, as well as more recent executive orders from the Biden administration designed to protect old growth. Ultimately, she said the project will enhance mature forest and reduce fire risk to nearby private property and remote communities.

“We went back through and did old-growth surveys using the forest plan old-growth definitions to validate that we indeed have more than the minimum of old growth in those six old-growth analysis areas in the project area, and then we also did a review of the forest inventory and analysis data, which showed across the Nez Perce side of the forest, we were above that (10%) minimum standard.”

A 45-day objection period in which people who have previously commented on the project are able to appeal the record or associated supplemental environmental impact statement started last week. Jeff Juel, executive director of Friends of the Clearwater, said his organization is scrutinizing the documents and he remains skeptical federal foresters are properly counting old-growth trees.

“They don’t seem to have the resources and the will to go out and actually survey the forest to document the existence of old growth, and because of that, they can’t even map and show the public where all the old growth is on the forest,” he said. “This is what they said they would do in the 1987 forest plan.”

Juel said naturally evolved old-growth stands distributed throughout the forest are critical to a wide range of wildlife species, including fisher, pine martens, pileated woodpeckers and northern goshawk.

“Even elk and grizzly bear find thermal cover — places where they can hide and keep cool in the heat of summer,” he said. “Because they are darker and cooler, they tend to burn at lower intensities than areas that have been logged.”

He is an advocate of protecting old-growth stands and allowing other stands to naturally mature into old growth.

“That is what wildlife have evolved with — these natural processes, not mechanized management and the removal of dying trees because they are unhealthy or the depletion of snags because they get in the way of logging operations.”

Probert said in addition to reducing the risk of large wildfires and protecting communities, the project also includes meadow restoration, the replacement of undersized road culverts and the decommissioning of unneeded logging roads. It includes logging on 8,000 acres that is expected to produce 173 million board feet of timber, some of which will be in the form of clearcuts. Another 12,000 acres will be treated with prescribed fire and some adjacent private lands will be thinned.

Citing work by the University of Idaho, Probert said the timber harvest and restoration work will help rural economies.

“For every 1 million board feet of timber sold, there (are) 30 jobs sustained or created, so that is important to these rural, underserved communities.’

In the same ruling that was issued in March, Dale also remanded the agency’s End of the World Project. The two projects are adjacent to each other but separated by the ridge that serves as the divide between the South Fork of the Clearwater River and the lower Salmon River. Probert said the agency will soon work to fix the old-growth deficiencies related to the End of the World Project.

More information on the Hungry Ridge Project is available at bit.ly/489z6wL.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.