Forest plan delayed until May

The draft environmental impact statement for a new Flathead National Forest plan won’t likely come until late April or early May, planner Joe Krueger said recently.

The 2,000-page document not only crafts a direction for the forest for the coming decades, it also lays out a plan for future grizzly bear conservation, as the bears could be removed from the Endangered Species List in the coming years.

The original plan was to have the draft done by January, but the local planners have been going back and forth with the regional Forest Service offices reviewing the document. Now Washington offices are reviewing it.

“We’re getting there,” Krueger said.

The last forest plan was completed in 1985. This plan has been in the works since about 2013. Last spring the forest released a “proposed action” which was a first shot at an actual plan. Wilderness advocates wanted more wilderness, particularly in the Bunker Creek drainage in the South Fork of the Flathead, and timber interests thought the proposed annual timber harvests were too low.

Krueger declined to identify what changes had been made in the draft, but once its released, there will be a 90-day comment period. The expectation is to have a final record of decision by October 2018.