Commissioners back Rabbit Tracts partnership

Lincoln County Commissioners approved a contract for a forestry project that would forge a partnership between private landowners and public officials.

While the commissioners’ stamp of approval on June 8 committed the county to The Rabbit Tracts Forest Partnership, Jennifer Nelson, county forester, said officials were waiting on state authorities to sign off on the project. To finance the partnership, which will manage 29,976 acres of forest lands northwest of Troy, officials are waiting on a nearly $431,000 grant.

Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced the partnership was among 14 projects that would receive funding through a 2020 revision of the Montana Forest Action Plan. Rabbit Tracts was among 40 proposals seeking over $4.5 million through the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Nelson originally asked state officials for $490,823 to back the local partnership between the county, DNRC, U.S. Forest Service, Stimson Lumber Company, Northern Lights and Vital Grounds. Due to budget adjustments, Nelson said in a June 15 follow-up interview that state officials lowered the award by roughly $60,000.

Since adjustment, the partners are still working out their exact contributions but Nelson expected the final figure would well exceed the 15 percent minimum required by the grant. Stimson and the Forest Service absorbed a larger portion of the project cost which will allow the partnership to complete all the work outlined in the original grant request.

The Rabbit Tracts project is bounded by the Kootenai River to the south and west, stretches just past Yaak Mountain to the north and stops just before King Mountain to the east. The partnership will perform commercial harvesting, commercial thinning, pre-commercial thinning and mastication in the designed area. In the project summary, organizers noted that these actions will provide more jobs, supply local mills with more timber, increase tree spacing and reduce competition and mortality.

Partners will also plant more fire- and insect-resistant trees, treat noxious weeds, create wildlife snags and construct wildfire defenses. Northern Lights will address wildfire risks in the area from power lines. The project includes plans to improve roads and post signs in the Alvord Lake Community Forest area.

Nelson said officials selected the project area since Forest Service officials had already conducted an environmental impact statement in the region as part of another project.