Forest Service fast-tracks massive Bitterroot logging project

A 143,340-acre logging and burning project spanning the length of the Bitterroot Mountains has been fast-tracked by the federal government, meaning the public cannot formally object to the proposal before it’s approved.

The burn scar of the 2016 Roaring Lion fire blankets the landscape around Roaring Lion Creek in the Bitterroot Range, pictured here from Ward Mountain Trailhead on June 24, 2022.

JOSHUA MURDOCK, Missoulian

U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore has deemed the Bitterroot Front Project an “emergency action,” the Bitterroot National Forest announced late last month. The determination allows the Forest Service to skip a step of the project’s public approval process: soliciting and responding to formal objections before the project is finally approved and implemented.

The agency released a 386-page draft environmental assessment (EA) for the project Aug. 16 and is accepting comments through Sept. 16.

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