Marshall Woods Restoration Project: Challenges to building consensus and conveying fire hazard mitigation and ecological restoration needs to the public

Abstract

Missoula District Ranger Jennifer Hensiek and other field trip presenters (see list of presenters at end) led about 35 participants on a tour through a portion of the Marshall Woods Restoration Project in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area on the Lolo National Forest (NF). The tour included stops throughout the project area to view thinning and prescribed burn treatments, as well as stops on private land adjacent to the project area to demonstrate the importance of community and partner engagement to project success. The number of unique stakeholders invested in the project area resulted in a lengthy, and at times contentious decision process. The final authorization and implementation of fuel reduction treatments, weed spraying, and other actions did not begin until 2016, almost a decade after initial planning began. Through partnerships with local landowners, Missoula County, and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (MT DNRC), the staff of the Lolo NF has observed increased acceptance and expansion of fuel reduction treatments to lands adjacent to the Marshall Woods Restoration project area, thereby increasing both the ecological and social effectiveness of the project.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the Fire Continuum-Preparing for the future of wildland fire; 2018 May 21-24; Missoula, MT

Citation

Keville, Megan. 2020. Marshall Woods Restoration Project: Challenges to building consensus and conveying fire hazard mitigation and ecological restoration needs to the public. In: Hood, Sharon M.; Drury, Stacy; Steelman, Toddi; Steffens, Ron, [eds.]. Proceedings of the Fire Continuum-Preparing for the future of wildland fire; 2018 May 21-24; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-78. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 352-357.