Timber management project in St. Joe district will be topic of open house

An open house has been scheduled to provide preliminary information to the public about the Forest Service’s Homestead Project, a forest rejuvenation project that could include timber harvesting and prescribed burns as well as reforestation in a 16,757-acre project area on the St. Joe Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The open house will be Sept. 26, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the conference room on the ground floor of the St. Maries Federal Building, 222 S. Seventh Ave., St. Maries.

Located in Shoshone County, the Homestead Project is in the Marble Creek drainage and its tributaries in the St. Joe River basin. It includes the Daveggio, Homestead, and Shearer Creek drainages.

An initial analysis of the existing forest conditions in the project area has identified approximately 1,200 acres for silviculture treatments to reduce insect and disease infestation.

— Ralph Bartholdt