VEGETATION 



INTRODUCTION 



This section provides a summary 

 description of the conditions of the 

 forest in the analysis area. Also 

 addressed are the potential effects 

 of the proposed alternatives related 

 to the following concerns : 



• Harvest units would regenerate 

 adequately following hai-vesting. 



• Trees may blow down in and 

 adjacent to existing harvest 

 units . 



• Old-growth stands would, 

 potentially, be affected on 

 Stillwater State Forest. 



This summary also addresses some 

 general concerns about the harvest, 

 such as how harvesting would affect: 



- the health of the forest, 



- the spread of noxious weeds, 



- wildfire hazards, 



- the historic occurrence patterns, 

 and 



- whether biodiversity would be 

 maintained in the project area. 



ANALYSIS METHODS 



An analysis was done on a large 

 scale to assess how age classes, 

 covertypes, and old-growth timber 

 stands would be affected. How 

 snags, coarse woody debris, and the 

 occurrence and distribution of 

 noxious weeds would be affected 

 under each alternative was also 

 analyzed. The data used to derive 

 the existing condition was a 

 combination of DNRC's SLI, traveling 

 the area extensively, and taking 

 plots within the areas proposed for 

 harvesting. Where recent harvests 

 are completed, the Stillwater SLI is 

 updated on a yearly basis. Projects 

 of forest management that have been 

 started, but not completed, are 

 considered in the cumulative effects 

 analysis. 



ANALYSIS AREA 



The large-scale analysis area 

 includes Stillwater State Forest and 

 scattered sections in northern 



Lincoln County (approximately 99,264 

 forested acres) ; this is referred to 

 as the analysis area in this 

 document. The analysis of site- 

 specific effects will be limited to 

 areas where actions are proposed, 

 which is referred to in this 

 document as the proposed harvest 

 units or the project area. Adjacent 

 lands will be analyzed where 

 applicable. Some comparisons will 

 be made with the historic data 

 representing the Upper Flathead 

 Valley, which was collected in the 

 1930s {climatic section 333c, 

 Losensky 1997b) . 



EXISTING CONDITIONS 



DISTRIBUTION OF AGE CLASSES AND 

 COVERTYPES 



Stillwater State Forest's age 

 classes and distributions of 

 covertypes across the landscape are 

 used to examine its condition at a 

 large scale. Historic conditions 

 and conditions DNRC believes the 

 forest should trend toward will be 

 compared. The comparison will be 

 based on the current percent of tree 

 species mix, the history of fires 

 and fire suppression, tree mortality 

 attributed to white pine blister 

 rust, the history of harvesting, and 

 the condition of the forest at the 

 sites proposed for harvesting. 



Graphs in FIGURE III-l - HISTORIC, 

 CURRENT, AND APPROPRIATE 

 DISTRIBUTION COVERTYPE DISTRIBUTION 

 IN ANALYSIS AREA displays the 

 current distribution of covertypes 

 in contrast to the historic 

 covertype distribution in the 

 Flathead Valley and the appropriate 

 covertype distribution. 



The comparisons show that the 

 current subalpine fir and mixed- 

 conifer covertypes are more common 

 than the historic past or desired 

 future covertype distributions. 



Increases in the subalpine fir and 

 mixed-conifer covertypes may be 

 consequences of fire suppression and 



Page III -2 



Dog/Meadow Timber Sale Project Draft EA 



