The Firewise Forest trail is a 1/6 of a mile loop with signs and a brochure focusing on fuels reduction treatments that residents can use to reduce the risk of wildfire and maintain some ecological and scenic values.
Exhibits in the Everchanging Forest visitor center at the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center interpret the local ecosystem. These displays help people anticipate the changes that will occur when forests are altered naturally or by human processes.
The Visitor's Center
Swan Ecosystem Center provides visitor information services at the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center so people can find help contacting Forest Service personnel and learn about trails, campsites, living with wildlife, forest fire and other natural resource concerns. Swan Ecosystem Center has developed several temporary and semi-permanent exhibits at the Condon Work Center, including the Everchanging Forest display that helps people anticipate the changes that will occur when Swan Valley forests are altered.
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Exhibits in the Everchanging Forest visitor center at the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center interpret the local ecosystem. These displays help people anticipate the changes that will occur when forests are altered naturally or by human processes.
The Visitor's Center
Swan Ecosystem Center provides visitor information services at the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center so people can find help contacting Forest Service personnel and learn about trails, campsites, living with wildlife, forest fire and other natural resource concerns. Swan Ecosystem Center has developed several temporary and semi-permanent exhibits at the Condon Work Center, including the Everchanging Forest display that helps people anticipate the changes that will occur when Swan Valley forests are altered.
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All of the ponderosa pine and the larger trees of the other species remain. Much of the lodgepole pine and small-diameter Douglas-fir was removed.
Swan Ecosystem Center developed a mile-long interpretive trail near the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center. The trail loops into the Ponderosa Pine Site and to a riparian area near the Swan River. Signs and exhibits help people understand the forces of change at work in the forest.
Firewise Forest
People can learn methods for protecting home sites from wildfire at the 7-acre Firewise Forest. Residents and the Forest Service technicians cooperatively developed this demonstration site in 2002-03. Spacing between the trees was reduced to encourage flames to drop to the ground, where they would be more easily controlled.
People can learn methods for protecting home sites from wildfire at the 7-acre Firewise Forest. Residents and the Forest Service technicians cooperatively developed this demonstration site in 2002-03. Spacing between the trees was reduced to encourage flames to drop to the ground, where they would be more easily controlled.
Ponderosa Pine Site
The Ponderosa Pine Site is a 30-acre plot thinned in 1996 to reduce fire danger and promote a stand of 200-year-old ponderosa pine. Ladder fuels growing around the giant trees had put the large ponderosa at risk of catastrophic fire. The removal of the Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine understory may protect the ponderosas.
The Ponderosa Pine Site is a 30-acre plot thinned in 1996 to reduce fire danger and promote a stand of 200-year-old ponderosa pine. Ladder fuels growing around the giant trees had put the large ponderosa at risk of catastrophic fire. The removal of the Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine understory may protect the ponderosas.
Swan Ecosystem Center and the Swan Lake Ranger District, Flathead National Forest, cooperatively oversee a 120-acre stewardship site near the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center. Short trails provide access to two demonstration forests on this site.
Trails, Exhibits &
Visitors' Info Center
Visitors' Info Center
These large ponderosa pines are remnants of historic conditions when the valley floor featured scattered, open stands of ponderosa pine and western larch. Several of the trees at the Ponderosa Pine Site are "culturally scarred." Kootenai, Salish and Pend O'Reille people, who historically camped in the area, removed strips of bark for the cambium, which is sweet. The scars remain to tell the story.
Swan Ecosystem Center
6887 Hwy 83, USFS Condon Work Center, Condon, MT 59826
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Office:
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406.754.3137 or 406.754.3138 |
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Fax:
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406.754.2965 |
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Email:
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swanec@blackfoot.net |
Copyright 2008 Swan Ecosystem Center. All rights reserved.
