regeneration of shade- intolerant 

 species where overstory canopies 

 have thinned. 



Some understory trees around a 

 private residence just north of 

 Soup Creek Road would be thinned 

 and pruned; limbs would be hand 

 piled and burned. This treatment 

 would remove ladder fuels and 

 attempt to reduce the likelihood 

 of a crown fire adjacent to the 

 residence, which could result in 

 the catastrophic loss of that 

 residence. 



Cumulative Impacts to Fire Effects 



• Cunudative Impact* qfthe JVot^cHon 

 Jlltemative to FVre Ejects 



The risk of stand-replacing 

 wildfires in historically 

 nonlethal regimes would continue 

 to increase as a result of forest 

 fuel acummulation. 



• Cutnulative Impacts qfthe miction Alternative 

 to Fire Ejects 



Fuel loadings would be reduced in 

 stands that are treated, which 

 would decrease wildfire risks in 

 these specific areas. 



FOREST INSECTS AND DISEASES 



Analysis Methods 



Swan River State Forest is observed 

 from the air annually and insect and 

 disease problems are mapped. DNRC 

 and USFS provide a report of the 

 aerial reconnaissance with updates 

 on insect and disease trends across 

 the Inland Northwest. In addition 

 to investigating these reports, DNRC 

 personnel include their own 

 observations of additional forest 

 health conditions as they occur on 

 Swan River State Forest . 



Analysis Area 



Primarily, the analysis area is the 

 Big Slowdown Salvage Project area. 



The forest productivity, structure, 

 and composition within the project 

 area are currently being affected by 

 white pine blister rust (Cronartium 



ribicola) and the Douglas-fir bark 

 beetle {Dendroctonus pseudotsugae) . 

 Other insects and diseases are 

 present in the project area, but are 

 not a serious problem at this time. 



> White pine blister rust 



White pine blister rust, caused by 

 the introduced pathogen Cronartium 

 ribicola, is the primary cause for 

 the reduction of western white 

 pine in the forest covertypes in 

 which it historically occurred 

 across the project area. Western 

 white pine of all ages and sizes 

 can be infected and killed by 

 white pine blister rust. The 

 western white pine that remain 

 alive on Swan River State Forest 

 do so because either they possess 

 natural genetic resistance to the 

 rust disease or they are 

 susceptible and have not yet 

 become infected. Western white 

 pine are also very susceptible to 

 attacks by the mountain pine 

 beetles, even when they are 

 relatively isolated individual 

 trees in stands of mixed conifer. 



Western white pine produces high- 

 value sawlogs that average $446 

 per MBF (University of Montana 

 2001) . Western white pine 

 harvested under Stillwater State 

 Forest's Werner/Taylor Timber Sale 

 Project area and 1999 Salvage 

 Permit averaged $300 per MBF. 

 Trees infected by white pine 

 blister rust often have dead tops 

 that reduce its volume and value 

 as a sawlog. This species is also 

 highly favored by firewood 

 cutters . 



Management and restoration 

 recommendations for western white 

 pine emphasize planting rust- 

 resistant western white pine 

 seedlings and maintaining white 

 pine genetic diversity {Fins et 

 al. 2001) . 



Monitoring for rust levels should 

 be performed at various times in 

 the life of a stand; bole pruning 

 to reduce the chances of blister 



Page C-12 



Vegetation Analysis 



