Kalispell, MT, July 29, 2021— Kurt Steele, Flathead National Forest Supervisor, and his staff,
invite the public to provide input on the proposed Schmidt Creek project. The project area is
approximately 152 acres and is generally located northeast of Swan Lake. Ownership within the
project area is entirely on National Forest System (NFS) land and all proposed activities would
occur on National Forest System land.
The Swan Lake Ranger District is proposing to commercially harvest trees infected with
Armillaria root disease, Douglas-fir beetle, and dwarf mistletoe by using regeneration (i.e.
clearcut with leave trees, seed-tree, and shelterwood) treatments. Blowdown and heavily
damaged standing trees would be salvaged to reduce fuel loadings. Construction of
approximately 1.9 miles of temporary road would be needed for harvest/salvage activities. The
proposed commercial harvest units would have post-harvest treatments designed to reduce
forest fuels, to prepare the site for regeneration, or both. Additionally, reforestation activities
would occur in units proposed for regeneration harvest and would utilize a combination of
natural seeding and planted tree seedlings.
The Schmidt Creek project area exists within an identified wildland-urban interface area of Lake
County, a Section 602 Designated Landscape, and is within Condition Class 2 in Fire Regime
Group III. Based on a preliminary assessment, this project may be categorically excluded from
documentation in an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment under
Section 603 of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (16 U.S.C.6591b) and evaluation of
extraordinary circumstances is not required.
The Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, will be hosting a virtual public
meeting about the Schmidt Creek Project on Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 from 5:00-6:00 pm
MST. Please RSVP to michele.mavor@usda.gov by Friday, August 6th, 2021. A meeting link
will be sent to interested participants only.
Additional information and maps for the project can be found at
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=60543. The public should submit comments by August
16th, 2021 to comments-northern-flathead-swan-lake@usda.gov. For questions, please contact
project leader Shelli Mavor, at michele.mavor@usda.gov (preferred method) or 406-837-7510