Bozeman, MT, December 6, 2023— The Sourdough Canyon/Bozeman Creek Trail #454 is now back open to the public. The Bozeman District is happy to announce that timber felling and flying of logs across the Sourdough Canyon/Bozeman Creek Trail is ahead of schedule and activities are complete on the east side of Bozeman Creek. This is only a portion of the fuels reduction contract and operations will be ongoing on the west side of Bozeman Creek. There will still be activity adjacent to the Sourdough Canyon trail, so the public is asked to use caution and to stay on designated trails until operations are complete. The public can expect to see helicopters landing adjacent to the trail for refueling activities and see vehicles traveling periodically on the #454 trail. The Leverich Canyon trails #435 and #436 will remain closed for continued work on the Bozeman Municipal Watershed Project. The week-long closures will be in effect until operations are completed for the season. The areas in Leverich Canyon trail are closed to address human safety concerns resulting from equipment and helicopters working in and flying over the area. Timing of work is dependent on weather and future closures next summer of 2024 could be necessary as well.

The Bozeman Municipal Watershed Project is a partnership between the City of Bozeman and the Custer Gallatin National Forest is in Bozeman’s High Risk Fireshed. Because this area provides over 80% of Bozeman’s drinking water, limiting the amount of sediment and ash entering the water treatment facility in the event of a wildfire is extremely important. This Joint Chief’s Landscape Restoration Project is also a collaborative effort with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement the Wildfire Crisis Strategy – a 10-year strategy to increase the scale and pace of our wildfire prevention efforts while restoring the health of forests, watersheds, and habitats across juridical boundaries.

Learn more about the project, implementation activities, and progress at Bozeman Municipal Watershed and Custer Gallatin National Forest on Facebook. For additional information on the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, please see Confronting the Wildfire Crisis | US Forest Service (usda.gov). For more information, please call the Bozeman Ranger District at 406-522-2520.