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Several logging projects OK’d on Flathead Forest
By HAILEY SMALLEY,
3 days agoNearly 5,000 acres of forestland along U.S. 2 have been cleared for a variety of treatments that Flathead National Forest officials say will reduce wildfire risk and improve ecological health. Officials described the stretch of forest between West Glacier and Summit as “overstocked, disease-prone and increasingly vulnerable to insects and wildfire” in a final decision notice signed Oct. 6. The Forest Service has prescribed a patchwork of commercial and precommercial thinning, clearcuts, whitebark pine restoration and prescribed burns to remedy the issue, which it has collectively titled the Granite-Moccasin Project. Commercial treatments make up 2,397 acres of the 4,930-acre treatment area, while noncommercial treatments account for 2,402 acres. Another 131 acres will be thinned to expand an existing utility corridor. About 8 miles of new Forest Service roads will be constructed during the project, most of which will be made impassable once activities cease. The Granite-Moccasin Project was first proposed in December 2025 and reviewed under an emergency action determination that the Trump administration introduced last year, which allows the Forest Service to forgo the typical objection period for projects in areas considered to be at high risk for catastrophic wildfire. A singular public comment period in January 2026 elicited
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