'No large-scale fires in the project 

 area have been recorded since the 

 late 1800s, though fire scars on 

 trees, char pieces, and encroachment 

 of shade -tolerant species under an 

 older dominant canopy are evidence 

 that fire did occur in these areas. 

 In the more recent past, smaller- 

 scale fires, such as spot fires (e. 

 g., 20 feet by 20 feet in size), 

 have occurred in the project area. 

 These fires were suppressed and not 

 allowed to burn under natural 

 conditions. 



Habitat types have also been grouped 

 to indicate the severity and 

 frequency of wildfires that 

 historically may have occurred on a 

 site {Fischer and Bradley, 1987) . 

 The majority of the proposed salvage 

 areas are in Fire Group 11(74 

 percent) ; the remainder is in Fire 

 Group 9 (26 percent) . 



Fire Group 11, which is described as 

 warm, moist grand fir, western red 

 cedar, and western hemlock habitat 

 types, is the dominant fire regime 

 in the project area. 



Stand-replacing fires are estimated 

 to have occurred every 50 to 200 

 years. Less severe fires likely 

 occurred more often and in broad 

 locations, which would have helped 

 maintain relict serai stands. 

 Relict stands contain large trees 

 that have survived fires of lower 

 intensity; these rarely develop into 

 true shade- intolerant stands due to 

 the low frequency of fires. 



Fire Group 9 is a moist, lower 

 elevation, subalpine fir habitat 

 type. Past studies show an average 

 fire-free interval of 30 years, with 

 extremes of 10 to 100 years. The 

 dominant representation of ponderosa 

 pine, western larch, and Douglas- fir 

 may account for the high fire 

 frequency. Due to the moisture 

 content of these stands, moderate to 

 severe fires may have been 

 restricted to brief periods in the 

 summer. Flare-ups may have caused 



openings that could have allowed the 

 establishment of serai species. 



PAST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES 



Inventory records show that past 

 timber harvesting in the project 

 area began in the early 1950s. The 

 following information pertains to 

 timber sales in, and adjacent to, 

 the Big Slowdown Salvage Project 

 area between 1950 and 2002: 



• Most past harvesting in the 

 project area has occurred in the 

 flatter areas east of Highway 83 

 at the base of the Swan Range . 

 Between 1950 and 1970, 

 regeneration harvests were 

 conducted in harvest units 2 

 acres and larger. Most of the 

 sale units have regenerated and 

 are well stocked with a variety of 

 sapling-/pole-sized tree species. 

 Seedtree and clearcut harvesting 

 between 1970 and 1992 have created 

 10- to 150-acre openings that have 

 densely regenerated with 6- to 40- 

 foot trees. Since the 1950s, 

 ongoing salvage harvesting has 

 also taken place throughout the 

 areas of low elevation. 



• Stands in the valley bottom were 

 harvested primarily with clearcut/ 

 seedtree prescriptions beginning 

 in the 1950s. These stands have 

 regenerated to a variety of 

 species that include ponderosa 

 pine, western larch, Douglas-fir, 

 western red cedar, western white 

 pine, and grand fir. The 15- to 

 30-foot-tall regeneration is well- 

 stocked to overstocked in most 

 stands . 



• Timber harvesting on adjacent Plum 

 Creek Timber Company land is 

 ongoing. Most stands have been 

 harvested using a variety of 

 treatment methods. Clearcut, 

 seedtree, and selective harvest 

 methods have typically been 

 applied to hundreds of contiguous 

 acres, creating abrupt, straight 

 edges that follow ownership f" 

 boundaries along section lines. 



Big Slowdown Salvage 



Page C-3 



