Kootenai Forest educational seminar tonight

The Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition and the Society of American Foresters are teaming up to bring a forum to Lincoln County to hold a Kootenai Forest Educational seminar at 7 p.m. tonight in the Ponderosa Room at Libby City Hall.

Two guest speakers will be discussing issues pertaining to the health of the forest and the people who live and play there.

Dr. Russell Graham and Dr. Terrie Jain will be leading the presentation. Graham and Jain work as researchers at the Rocky Mountain Forest Service research station in Moscow, Idaho.

Both doctors have worked with the Coeur d'Alene Coalition in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest and the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition.

They have advised each group on how to restore shade intolerant species including western white pine, Ponderosa pine and western larch. They have worked in the fields of silviculture, soils and fire ecology.

Graham has worked in the Rocky Mountain research field for over 27 years. He's focused on understanding the long-term forest productivity and landscape processes.

The productivity research has concentrated on the management of forest organic materials, primarily coarse woody debris and the material stored on the forest floor.

Jain's research includes the role of fire suppression on the ecosystem woody fuel accumulation and fuel influence on burn severity and carbon sequestration.

She's also researched the influence of fuel reduction treatments on burn severity, wood decomposition research within a variety of forest and geologies within the interior West, including burned and unburned forests. Jain has also researched white pine degeneration in north Idaho.

The event is co-sponsored by the Society of American Foresters and the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition.

According to www.safnet.org the Society of American Foresters is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the U.S. Founded in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot, it is the largest professional society for foresters in the world.

The mission of the Society of American Foresters is to advance the science, education, technology, and practice of forestry; to enhance the competency of its members; to establish professional excellence; and, to use the knowledge, skills, and conservation ethic of the profession to ensure the continued health and use of forest ecosystems and the present and future availability of forest resources to benefit society.

The Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition is a broad coalition of groups, including timber, mining, motorized recreation conservationists, elected officials and more.

They work on various projects and plans for the Kootenai National Forest to ensure the projects are beneficial for everyone.

KFSC serves as a sounding board for the Forest Service and do not initiate projects, the USFS brings projects to KFSC.

For more information, go to: www.kootenaistakeholders.org .

The Kootenai Forest Educational Seminar begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 in the Ponderosa Room in Libby City Hall.