Forest Service releases Granite Fuels Project plans

Project to reintroduce prescribed fire to upper St. Joe River country

The USDA Forest Service has released an updated plan for the Granite Fuels Project located on the St. Joe Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The project area encompasses about 112,000 acres between the North Fork of the Clearwater River and the Upper St. Joe River including the Mallard Larkins Pioneer Area and the Snow Peak Wildlife Management Area.

Over the past year, the St. Joe Ranger District worked staff to staff with interagency partners, local leaders, Forest Collaboratives, and the Coeur d’ Alene Tribe with the goal to achieve as many common objectives as possible.

The plan calls for prescribed burning within the project area over the next 10 years to promote healthy forest conditions and improved wildlife habitat, while reducing the threat of severe wildfires.

Low intensity, prescribed burns would be applied to smaller units within the project area to achieve desired forest conditions and improve browsing for big game. Prescribed fire would also remove concentrations of the dead and down woody debris that fuel large wildfires.

There is no timber harvest or road construction associated with this project.

An environmental assessment, draft decision notice and finding of no significant impact can all be found online on the project webpage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=66722

A 45-day objection period begins following publication of the legal notice in the Coeur d’Alene Press.

Objections can be filed by those who have previously submitted specific written comments regarding the proposed project during scoping or other designated opportunity for public comment.

For more information on the Granite Fuels Project, contact project leader Jennifer Cinq-Mars at jennifer.cinq-mars@usda.gov.

For media inquiries, please contact Neil Shurtz at neil.shurtz@usda.gov