Comments closed October 5
Ogden Poorman vegetation project on Lincoln Ranger District
U.S. Forest Service · Lincoln Ranger District, Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest
- What
- The Forest Service wants to treat forest south of Highway 200 for insect and disease damage.
- Where
- Lincoln Ranger District, Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, MT
- How much
- Section 603 of HFRA (16 U.S.C. 6591b) categorical exclusion authority invoked; R1-2023-02 (in effect) active NCDE wildlife order on same forest
- Decided
- Comments closed October 5, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Forest Service CARA comment page ↗, read October 29, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Forest Service project page ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the project page names, as PLAN read them.
- Section 603 of HFRA (16 U.S.C. 6591b)“Categorical Exclusion: Section 603 of HFRA (16 U.S.C. 6591b)” Project Overview Open the document ↗
- R1-2023-02 (in effect)“R1-2023-02 - NCDE Food and Wildlife Attractant Storage Order” Alerts Open the document ↗
- DecidedOctober 5, 2026, from Forest Service CARA comment page, the notice text ↗: “requested through 10/5/2026 11:59:59 PM (Mountain Standard Time)”. Read October 29, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
The Forest Service wants to treat forest south of Highway 200 for insect and disease damage.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
By the numbers, from the agency’s own document
- Categorical exclusion authority invoked
- Active NCDE wildlife order on same forest
Source: the agency’s document ↗
The agency’s own analysis
What the notice says, and what it leaves out
The window has closed; the record of what was missing stays.
The agency says
“treatments that address damage and mortality from insects and disease”
The project description says the Ogden Poorman Project will use treatments that address insect and disease damage but discloses no treatment type, no acreage, and no project boundary map.
The agency says
“R1-2023-02 - NCDE Food and Wildlife Attractant Storage Order”
The same Forest Service webpage that hosts this project notice carries an active alert: 'R1-2023-02 - NCDE Food and Wildlife Attractant Storage Order.' The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bear management area encompasses the Lincoln Ranger District south of Lincoln, Montana.
The agency says
“Lead Management Unit: Lincoln Ranger District Project Purpose: Vegetation management (other than forest products)”
The project purpose is listed as 'Vegetation management (other than forest products),' yet the CE authority being invoked, HFRA Section 603, expressly authorizes the salvage of dead and dying trees, which produces commercial timber.
The agency says
“Use the widget below to browse documents associated with this project. Cookies must be enabled to use this tool.”
The Project Documents section conditions public access on enabling cookies and, for mobile users, cross-website tracking.
In the agency’s own words
The Ogden Poorman Project would address high hazard insect concerns with treatments that address damage and mortality from insects and disease. It is located on the Lincoln Ranger District, south of Highway 200.
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in Montana
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Montana, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- American Prairie
Predicted likely to care · a guess
American Prairie, Montana: Defending its own bison herd, formally protesting BLM's revocation of grazing permits on 63,000 public-land acres.
- Defenders of Wildlife
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, Montana: Named plaintiff in the Rock Creek Mine case, which turned on threatened grizzly bears and bull trout.
- Earthjustice
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, Montana: Counsel in the long-running litigation against the Rock Creek and Montanore mines proposed beneath the wilderness.
- Western Watersheds Project
Predicted likely to care · a guess
American Prairie, Montana: Filed a protest against BLM's revocation of the bison grazing permits.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
The photograph on this page: Bull elk in autumn aspens. It’s the country this decision sits in, not the site itself. More Than Just Parks.
In court on this ground
No court case we track is over Helena National Forest and Lewis & Clark National Forest.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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