Lolo NF approves road reduction project

The Lolo National Forest Supervisor signed the Record of Decision for the Center Horse Project Environmental Impact Statement, paving the way for a decrease in public roads.

The Center Horse project includes restoration activities and road treatments to improve water quality, restore or enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and conserve and improve soil resources.

The project will also set the transportation network within the project area to meet public and administrative needs.

In total, the project will result in an 8.5-mile decrease in public roads of which only 4.5 miles are currently drivable. These actions will improve watershed conditions which have been impacted by wildfire and past management actions by reducing sedimentation, improving water flow for fish passage, restoring watershed function, and improving the habitat along streams.

“We look forward to implementing these restoration treatments within the Center Horse project area,” stated Carolyn Upton, Lolo National Forest Supervisor. “The project will set our transportation system and provide for improved watershed health, while still maintaining key recreational access.”

The project area is in Missoula and Powell counties on the Seeley Lake Ranger District about 14 miles north of Ovando and includes the North Fork Cottonwood and Spring Creek drainages to the west and the McCabe Creek drainage to the east.

The decision authorizes the Forest to move forward with road construction, decommissioning, reroutes, and culvert replacements within the project area to restore watershed health for critical fish and wildlife habitat.

The original Center Horse Restoration project, part of the Southwest Crown Collaborative (SWCC) and Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, was put on hold in 2017 when the Rice Ridge Fire burned about 40,000 of the 61,300-acre project area.

The Forest stopped work on the original Center Horse Restoration project immediately after the fire and moved forward with post-fire salvage logging in 2018.

Upon signature, the project is approved for implementation over the course of the next 10 years.

For more information call the Seeley Lake Ranger Station at 406-677-2233.