Salmon-Challis hosting virtual meeting to discuss fuels reduction and restoration project
SALMON, Idaho (KIFI) - The Salmon-Challis National Forest will be hosting a discussion about the upcoming release of the environmental analysis for the Fuels Reduction and Restoration Project, on February 25, 2022.
You are invited to participate in this meeting, which will feature a presentation and a question-and-answer session, via Microsoft TEAMs or by phoning into a conference call.
Since September of 2020, employees on the Salmon-Challis National Forest have been working to develop this project and be responsive to the various comments received from the public. The intent of this meeting is to share information about how public feedback influenced project design, the analysis resources specialists have conducted, the timeline and next steps in the process.
“There is a need to reduce the potential for uncharacteristic wildfires across the Salmon-Challis National Forest to reduce the risk to our communities, economic values, and the health of our ecosystems,” said Fire Ecologist Christine Droske. “We are looking forward to being innovative in our approach to reduce hazardous fuels and use prescribed fire in the right place at the right time. There are many steps necessary as we move to increase the pace and scale of our work - restoring our forest health, and this project is a good start to being efficient and getting more work done on the ground.”
As we take steps to increase the pace and scale of our work, we are balancing the importance of providing timber products, restoring ecosystems, and improving wildlife habitat. We are using a condition-based approach with this project. This approach will enable us to be gain efficiencies during planning and implementation to ultimately accomplish more work on the ground. The presentation will include a discussion on condition based management and walk thru how this project will be implemented.
The public can learn more by viewing the Story Map for the project. This is a user-friendly tool to help the public quickly become familiar with the project and why it’s being developed.
The presentation on February 25th starts at 10:30 am. To join, go to the following Microsoft TEAMs link or call in at +1 202-650-0123 and dial in the following Conference ID when prompted: 566763016#. For more information, please contact Christine Droske at christine.droske@usda.gov.
