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Sandpoint Ranger District updates timber sales, Highway 57 fuel project and Buckskin sale status
Summary
District Ranger Andrew Scallon told commissioners the Sandpoint South decision is signed to advance fuels/vegetation work, the Highway 57 linear fuel project is in early planning with state partners, and the Dry Delisle timber sale (part of the Buckskin project) was sold in September to IFG after litigation was resolved.
Sandpoint Ranger District staff briefed Bonner County commissioners on active timber sales, planning for linear fuel work along Highway 57 and the status of the Buckskin-related timber sales.
"We've basically got 3 active open sales," District Ranger Andrew Scallon said, and he noted the Sandpoint South decision was signed to complete vegetation management and fuels reduction work on the district's southern portion. Scallon said one active sale is a small commercial firewood operation and that timber-sale activity is slated to increase in the coming year.
On the Highway 57 project, staff described early-stage work to "harden that route for ingress, egress, and making it a more defendable feature on the landscape, for wildfire," and said the district is coordinating with the Idaho Transportation Department and Idaho Department of Lands to identify a project area and treatments. Project staff clarified treatments could include complete vegetation removal near the fog line followed by progressive thinning farther back, and that exact treatment widths are not yet determined.
An online commenter asked about a large High Drive sale linked to the Buckskin project. Scallon said the Dry Delisle timber sale (part of Buckskin) was sold in September to IFG and began operations last fall; litigation on that sale was resolved with the Forest Service prevailing on all counts.
Scallon also said a planned road-decommissioning project at Grouse Creek, intended to remove a levee and restore floodplain function, was overtaken by flooding and will be re-evaluated before summer work.
District staff did not present formal land-use decisions for commission action during this briefing; the update was presented as information and for coordination with county stakeholders.
