Snow, rain, put fires all but out
Hungry Horse News
Rains last week put a major dent in area wildfires and fire use restrictions have been lifted in both Glacier National Park and surrounding forests.
Last Wednesday evening (Sept. 13) a front from the Gulf of Alaska blew through, bringing rain in the valleys and snow to higher elevations.
There was light snow at ground level at places like Two Medicine in Glacier National Park by Sunday morning and more rain and snow is expected throughout the week in the high country.
As of Tuesday the area has seen about an inch of rain at West Glacier and .92 inches at St. Mary, said Park fire ecologist Dennis Divoky.
The Sun Dog Fire up the North Fork near South Coal and Coal Creeks is not considered dead out, said Hungry Horse/Glacier View District Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera, but it isn't considered a threat either.
The fire burned roughly 1,400 acres. DeHerrera said Forest Service crews will do an assessment of the fire to see if it's a candidate for a salvage logging operation.
If it is, it would have to go through a full environmental review process, he noted.
Crews took out about 20 loads of trees from fires breaks, but those weren't all logs, he noted, they were all sorts of different diameter trees, with the branches still attached.
The rain ended Stage 1 fire restrictions, which means folks can have campfires and can smoke in undeveloped areas. Glacier Park also lifted its ban on smoking and campfires in the backcountry.
All roads that were closed because of fire on the Hungry Horse/Glacier View District have reopened, DeHerrera noted.
A prescribed burn near Murray Bay on the east side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir successfully burned about 1,800 acres, DeHerrera said, before the rains came.
Now it is pretty much out.
The burn is designed to enhance elk and deer habitat in higher elevations.
Burning forests helps encourage new growth of shrubs and forbs elk and deer eat.
Glacier National Park is reporting the Red Eagle fire still has some hot spots.
It won't be considered fully out until the St. Mary area sees significant amounts of snow.