Forest Service seeking input on Lolo Prescribed Fire Project
Missoula, Mont., January 16, 2025 - The Lolo National Forest invites the public to provide feedback on the Lolo Prescribed Fire Project. The project proposes to increase the application of prescribed fire across the project area reducing the risk of uncharacteristically large and/or severe wildfires, impacts to communities and promoting forest resiliency.
The analysis area includes all National Forest System lands within the Lolo National Forest boundary and portions of adjacent Bureau of Land Management and The Nature Conservancy lands in the Blackfoot Corridor totaling nearly 1.7 million acres. The project does not include designated Wilderness areas, Research Natural Areas, and ongoing National Environmental Policy Act projects.
The specific objectives of the project are to reduce fuel accumulations, maintain fuel conditions in previously treated areas, and increase forest resiliency by restoring and maintaining diverse plant communities through application of prescribed fire.
“The Lolo National Forest has been striving to reintroduce fire to the landscape on a broader scale for a while now,” said Jeremy Casterson, Acting Forest Supervisor for the Lolo National Forest. “This approach allows fire and fuels staff to make decisions based on current conditions vs. planning years out on where to implement prescribed fire and then conditions change. This approach gives us the flexibility to be more proactive in managing the forest, especially reducing fuels that can lead to severe and large wildfires.”
The public is invited to participate in the scoping period. Your comments specific to this project and/or to individual sites and resources are valuable in helping to identify issues, develop alternatives and refine the analysis.
The Forest will be hosting a virtual public meeting to share information and answer questions about this project on February 6, at 5 p.m. MT. Click on the link, https://usfs.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_IJoS4klnQCiQgJJv8yRWGA, and register for the meeting. Once registered you will receive an email with the link to the meeting.
Comments may be sent electronically by clicking the “Comment/Object on Project” under the Get Connected heading found here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/lolo/?project=67482.
Post mail and/or hand deliver by February 15, 2025, to:
ATTN: Martin Jacob
Lolo National Forest
24 Fort Missoula Road
Missoula, MT 59804
Communications from the public regarding this project, including commenters' names and contact information, will become part of the public record.
For more information or questions concerning the project, please contact the Lolo National Forest at 406-329-3857 or email sm.fs.r1_lolo_www@usda.gov.
For more information about the Lolo National Forest, please visit the website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/lolo or follow updates on Facebook and X.
About the Forest Service: The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages the 193 million acres of National Forest System land, provides stewardship assistance to non-federal forest landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.
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