Timber sale boosts state harvest total

A proposed timber sale in the Swan Valley represents a major portion of Montana’s timber harvest on state lands.

The Cilly Cliffs timber sale would harvest 22.6 million board feet of wood on about 21 sections of land over a three- to five-year period. If harvested over three years, the project would represent about 13 percent of Montana’s timber harvest on state lands in 2015 through 2017.

Daniel Roberson, Swan River unit manager, recently wrote a decision notice recommending approval of the project by the state land board.

Roberson said the proposed sale strikes the best balance between protection of ecological values and forest management of insect and disease problems. Money from timber harvest on state land goes toward Montana schools.

The timber sale project covers 12,555 acres although harvesting would occur on approximately 20 percent or less of those acres, according to the harvest plan.

The harvest will be on state lands in the Swan Valley near Cilly Creek and Soup Creek, east of the Point Pleasant Campground.

The proposed sale is broken into several smaller permits and harvests, although the final environmental impact statement performed on the sale analyzed the cumulative effects of the all the smaller sales together.

The state land board will consider the sale at is October meeting.

BY THE NUMBERS

A board foot is a board of lumber

that measures 12 inches wide by 12

inches long by 1 inch thick.

A log truck carries about 4,500 board feet of logs.