Montana Wildfire News

The Lolo National Forest announced Wednesday that over 65,000 tree seedlings were planted across the area burned in the Lolo Peak Fire in 2017. The planting occurred in May thanks to a partnership with the National Forest Foundation, which donated $30,000 to purchase seedlings for the project.

Missoula County fire officials announced Monday they will move fire danger signs to "high" effective immediately. The U.S. Forest Service's Wildland Fire Assessment System shows at least two other regions with "High" fire danger — north-central and southeast Montana.

A small wildfire that was discovered Monday on the Flathead Reservation is now being called 80 percent contained. Responders say the blaze was sparked by lightning either Sunday or Monday. The wildfire burned just two and a half miles northwest of Arlee. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire and local firefighters were able to contain 20 percent of the blaze shortly after responding Monday evening.

A new Montana Free Press series is shedding a light on how policies of the past and present intersect with wildfire response. Amanda Eggert, a former wildland firefighter and freelance journalist, is writing the three-part series Living With Fire . Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton spoke with her about the series.

Montana small businesses received about half a billion dollars in 2018 through federal contracts. The federal government says it exceeded its small business federal contracting goal nationwide for the sixth year in a row in 2018. Montana businesses received about $729 million dollars last year, and about 60% of that went to small businesses. That’s according to a U.S. Small Business Administration press release on Wednesday.

Consider it the unofficial start of the summer wildfire season in the Bitterroot Valley. Fire danger on the Bitterroot National Forest was raised up a notch Wednesday, going from “Low” to “Moderate." Moderate fire dangers means a fire can start from most accidental causes. Fires started under these conditions in open, dry grasslands can quickly take off, while timber fires spread more slowly and are easier to control.

Two proposed logging projects in the Seeley Lake area are the latest in a statewide push towards more use of a collaborative federal and state timber harvest program. The Lolo National Forest wants to partner with the State of Montana on a pair of so-called Good Neighbor Authority projects to log about 5,000 acres of Forest Service land near Seeley Lake.

It’s going to take fire — and a lot of it — to fight wildfire in the Missoula Valley, where it is and always has been part of the landscape. Experts say it’s also going to take more prescribed burning, new levels of government agency coordination and new layers of government regulation to make a difference.

Average fire conditions are expected throughout most of Montana this summer, according to analysis given to Gov. Steve Bullock during his annual pre-fire-season briefing today. However, fire officials warn that climate change is continuing to lengthen fire seasons throughout the West.

Gov. Steve Bullock will get a briefing on Montana’s wildfire outlook Friday from a group of interagency fire partners. The governor’s annual fire season meeting delivers predictions on wildland fire potential and updates on the readiness of agencies to respond once fire breaks out.