This page is a work in progress … we’ll be updating it regularly. Please suggests additional resources or questions in the comments!
The emphasis of this page is currently forestry, but the General resources cover much more. See also our general fire resources post.
Post-Fire Webinar, September 22
This video documents a 9/22/2020 webinar about forest assessment following the Bridger Foothills Fire. There’s also a lot of material, particularly in the Q&A, about seeding, contour felling, salvage logging, and other restoration options.
The primary presenter is Peter Kolb, MSU Extension forester. In the first two hours, he covers the assessment of fire damage to forests and soils in considerable detail, with many helpful visuals. Beginning around 1:52:00 in the video, Christopher Mahony and Avery Hackett discuss NRCS resources, including cost sharing assistance for forestry projects. At about 2:04:00, Peter Kolb returns with a recap of the fire’s rapid evolution from a lightning strike to 8000 acres, and more Q&A on remediation options.
NPR also has a nice 5-minute podcast with Peter on the same topic.
Post-fire Forest Assessment
- Wildfire Severity Photo-guide for Assessing Damage and Aiding Recovery of Trees and Forests across the Northern Rockies
- Other publications from MSU Extension: https://forestry.msuextension.org/publications/index.html
NRCS Resources
- Resource Packet from Christopher Mahony, our local NRCS rep: NRCS.zip (see 9/22 webinar video above for discussion). You can reach him at 522-4012 or christopher.mahony@usda.gov.
- NRCS resource page: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/mt/plantsanimals/nrcseprd1340465/
General Recovery Resources
- After the Flames – a huge compendium of resources, including the Post-Fire Playbook (Colorado)
- USFS Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER)
- Coalitions & Collaboratives – another mega-list of resources.
- After Wildfire – a 60-page booklet from the MSU Extension (2002)
- Recovering from Wildfire – an 8-page brochure on fire recovery. Has nice coverage of major issues and illustrations of fire severity, but target geography is Arizona. (2011)
- Wildfire Recovery – another short guide, from OSU Extension (2006)
- MT DNRC Forestry Assistance
- Gallatin Conservation District
Contractors
Montana DNRC’s Approved Contractor List relative to the DNRC forest health and wildfire safety program (from the Fairgrounds event via Ted Mather):
Salvage Logging and Other Forest Treatments
Sell the timber? Cut trees and leave them on site for erosion control? Leave a standing snag forest for wildlife? These questions are on a lot of minds. Please share advice, plans and experiences in the comments!
Douglas Fir Beetle
Some papers on Douglas Fir Beetle management after fires:
- DOUGLAS-FIR BEETLE ATTACK AND TREE MORTALITY FOLLOWING WILDFIRE
- Douglas-fir Beetle ID and Management
- Douglas-fir Beetle Management
- Douglas-Fir Beetle QuickGuide 2016
Note that there are currently several outbreaks of the beetle in the canyon.
Weeds
A letter from the Gallatin County Weed District, offering assistance:
- BridgerFireWeedsLetter.pdf
- There’s still funding for Bridger Foothills Fire recovery: WeedCostShareBridgerFireFinal
A recent booklet from MSU Extension:
The Next Fire – Defensible Space & Forest Management
A nice video from UNR Extension that gets beyond the basics – this is the best in-depth video I’ve seen. Sometimes the ecosystem is a bit different, but generally the principles are applicable:
A more policy-oriented webinar on wildfire, recommended via the BFF facebook group:
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Regarding the numerous burned, dead trees on our hillside, we have had a recommendation to cut them down and leave them on the ground, horizontal to the hillside. It would be outrageously expensive to haul them out, and this way, they will help with spring run off.
That may be a good idea, but we are also wondering what are other people doing..
Some helpful excerpts from my conversation with Mark Howard, School Gulch:
Chris Mahony [NRCS] came up and he was very helpful. His advice was to talk to lumber companies regarding valuable lumber (anything straight and over 8 inch trunk) and to fell and chip the smaller, non-commercial trees. The other key thing was to leave maybe 10% of the smaller dead trees standing for bird and wildlife habitat and to help with wind protection etc. They will eventually fall, however if they aren’t eyesores, then leave them be. Finally, on some of our steeper hillsides, his advice was to fell a number of trees across the slope and leave them there to help reinforce the hillsides and hold it together. I have 3 logging companies coming in over the next few days to give me quotes and I’m hopeful that the commercial lumber will help offset the clearing/mulching/felling costs a bit. At the least, we could swap lumber for labor.
Tom was also going to help provide different seed mixes to start throwing out now and over the coming weeks. Evidently the logging helps break up the “dead” soil and regenerate – combining that with seeding grasses etc. after the logging should help a great deal.
There are various grants and cost matching programs with numerous agencies and he as going to try and pull that info together for me. One thing that he did mention is that if we were to try planting a large area with Douglas Fir seedlings that the Elk and Deer would likely decimate them quickly, so it probably wasn’t worth it.
By the way, all the logging companies have said that the more land owners that get involved, the cheaper it would be to log.