Giant forest health project will affect area from LPO to Canfield Mountain

A 50,000-acre forest-health project that will include logging and prescribed burns on infected and diseased tree stands in the Panhandle National Forest from Lake Pend Oreille to Hayden Lake will be discussed during three upcoming meetings.

The proposed Honey Badger Project — which encompasses an area from Honey Mountain at the northeast of the project boundary in the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District south to Canfield Mountain and includes the ridgelines of Badger and Huckleberry mountains — will be the topic of public meetings from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Athol Community Center, Aug. 28 at Hayden City Hall and on Aug. 29 at Coeur d’Alene’s Fire Station 3 on 15th Street.

Although still in its initial stages, the Honey Badger project was prompted in part by insect and fungi disease damage to large swaths of trees in the project area. Root diseases, boring insects associated with dead and dying trees as well as dwarf mistletoes and decaying tree stems were among indicators of poor forest health in parts of the project area, according to the Forest Service.

“Root diseases were found in all proposed units we visited and were widespread across the project area,” according to a Forest Service project report. “Douglas fir and western larch dwarf mistletoes were each found where their respective hosts were a more important stand component, totaling six proposed units.”

Stem decays were found mostly in older trees in five proposed units, while fir-engraver beetles and bark beetles, both of which are associated with poor forest health, appeared in much of the project area but not at outbreak levels, according to the report.

Removing dead, dying and infected trees and burning slash are among the remedies associated with diseased units, but the project also includes road and trail restoration, watershed improvements, and reducing the risk of wildfire in the urban interface.

About a third of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest is considered “urban interface,” or the transition zone between unpopulated wild land and human development. Reducing the risk of wildfire in the transition zone is a major component of the project, Shoshanna Cooper of the Forest Service said.

Because a large portion of Kootenai County lives near the forest and uses it for recreation, the agency anticipates a large turnout at its public meetings.

“This is where a big component of the county goes to recreate,” Cooper said. “It’s highly visible to the public because of its location near the Highway 95 corridor.”

The project will also entail clean-up work, and maintenance work along its road system. One of the main areas requiring increased management is the Hayden Creek area that has been used for decades as a garbage dump and shooting range, Cooper said. The Forest Service fields a lot of comments regarding cleaning up and better managing the area, and volunteer groups have for years have picked up trash along the Hayden Creek forest entrance.

The project is still in the pre-National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) stage, Cooper said. Early public input will help guide the plan. A draft proposed action will be released early next year.

“This is about getting people involved, early in the conversation,” Cooper said. “This project covers the whole gamut of forest restoration.”