Trails, logging project north of town closer to reality

A plan to create a network of trails just north of Columbia Falls on Flathead National Forest lands is closer to fruition.

The Crystal Cedar Project received a Finding of No Significant Impact last week, though the plan has been tweaked a bit from its original version.

All told, the project includes 24.3 miles of non-motorized trails and a little less than half-mile of new motorized trail. Some of the trails already exist; though this plan would formalize them. All of the trails are west of the North Fork Road and are off existing roads starting at the end of Fourth Avenue East North, running north to just below Crystal Creek in the rolling foothills of the Whitefish Range.

The project also calls for about 2,400 acres of timber harvest on a host of small units, including thinning trees to reduce the risk of wildfire in the area. The total timber harvest is expected to yield about 9 million board feet.

The stands in the area are a mix of lodgepole, fir, spruce and larch.

It also calls for about 280 acres of live birch cutting along open roads.

The trails would be created and maintained through partnerships with local user groups, most notably the Glacier to Gateway Trail Group, which has worked closely with the Forest Service on the plan.

The area is grizzly bear habitat, though the Forest says the plan takes steps to mitigate potential impacts.

“The project design features that I am including in my decision will reduce the potential for grizzly bear-human conflict by providing information at trailheads, maintaining sight distances, limiting speeds, and avoiding areas of dense vegetation,” Forest Supervisor Chip Weber notes in his findings.

All of the trails will be open to bicyclists and hikers, and some will be open to bikers, hikers and horses. A few are open to multiple uses, including hikers, bikers, horses and motorized vehicles. Some of the lower trails in the system will also be designed for adaptive use bicycles for people with disabilities.

The trail network is designed in loops, so a hiker or biker can start and end a hike at the same trailhead without having to backtrack.

The plan leaves out winter recreation proposals that came from some members of the public. Some nordic groups had lobbied for a groomed trail network and fat tire mountain bikers also wanted groomed trails. But those aspects were considered outside the scope of the assessment, though could be explored in the future.

That doesn’t mean the trails will be closed in the winter to skiing, they just won’t be groomed. Some of the roads in the project are already open to snowmobile use, but don’t see much traffic.

The plan now enters the objection phase. A final decision is expected in February. Timber sales could start as early as next summer. Optimally, the idea is to get the timber sales finished before trail work begins, noted project leader Sarah Canepa. Having said that, trail work outside of timber sales could start sooner and if timber sales are delayed, trail work could begin before the sales.

The complete project and all the documents are available at: www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=52844