Sierra Club Press Advisory
Contact: Bob Clark, 549-1142
Join the Lolo National Forest, Sierra Club, Society of American Foresters, and the Missoula public on Saturday, September 27th, National Public Lands Day, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at Sawmill Gulch (Rattlesnake National Recreation Area.)
Partners in the Sawmill Gulch Fuels Reduction Project will be holding a volunteer service day to hand-pile brush and small timber in the wildland-urban interface and to remove old barbed-wire fencing and weeds to improve elk habitat.
The hand-piling work is part of a demonstration project between the Montana Sierra Club, Missoula chapter of Society of American Foresters, and the Lolo National Forest reducing fuels on 98 acres of public land in the Wildland-Urban Interface. The project is part of a larger effort that will help protect the upper Rattlesnake community from wildfire. Forest Service fire specialists will be on hand to lead the hand-piling effort and to discuss the benefits of the fuel reduction project.
Fence removal and noxious weed pulling is part of an on-going effort by Five Valleys Chapter of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, Five Valleys Land Trust, Hellgate Hunters and Anglers, University of Montana Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society, and Lolo National Forest to improve elk habitat in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area.
Project representatives will be available for interviews on site or by appointment
* Boyd Hartwig, Lolo National Forest
* Dave Atkins, Society of American Foresters
* Bob Clark, Sierra Club
There will be opportunities to tour the Sawmill Gulch project site and to talk with citizen volunteers.
WHERE: Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, Sawmill Gulch (call for directions)
WHEN: Saturday, September 27th, 9:00 – 2:00
