USFS eyes emergency logging in Idaho
This photo shows the Prichard Blowdown unit, a 28-acre patch of blowdown near Prichard from the December 2025 windstorm. The Forest Service already issued a decision in March to salvage log this particular unit to reduce wildfire hazards, recover economic value from the wood, and reduce the risk of insect and disease from further damaging the stand.
Photo courtesy USFS
The U.S. Forest Service published an eight-page emergency plan that it says addresses catastrophic wind damage to federal forest land caused by two weather emergencies. But environmental watchdog groups say it’s rushed and could result in millions of acres being used for commercial logging with an almost impossibly short public comment period.
The project’s scoping document doesn’t disclose which parcels of federal forest land will be logged and treated under the emergency plans. But a table shows it could involve more than five million acres spanning across Montana and Idaho’s panhandle.
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