Petty Creek Prescribed Burn

[BigHornRam]

Petty Creek Big Game Ecosystem Maintenance Burning (EMB) project - Montana Wild Sheep Foundation

Petty Creek Big Game EMB Project Year Completed: 2019 | Project Cost: $42,011.58 | MTWSF Funded $2,500 Project Summary In the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019, the Montana Chapter WSF funded several units in the Petty Creek Big Game Ecosystem Maintenance Burning (EMB) project

montanawsf.org

Good public land work being done here!

 

[Nameless Range]

Spent a fair bit of time up there when I was a student. Love that country, and once off the road and up the mountain, felt like I had mountains to myself only 20 minutes from The Zoo. Also cool to run into sheep while whitetail hunting.

 

[Sytes]

Good friend lived up there for a good amount of years. *Loved the area some 20 years ago... we'd fill our whitetail tags road hunting, hike for a mulie buck on occasion, cracked a couple black bear and every once in a while, connect with an elk. Since then, been back once and it seems a mountain version of Zootown's overcrowded, hard to fit emergency vehicles along streets, handshake resident areas. That along with fish creek... beautiful area, at least it was back then.

hope the prescribed burns renew the flora and enhance the fauna of that once beautiful area.

 

[sethkuhl]

I just hope they dont burn the winter range right before winter like they did on the cutoff!

 

[mtmuley]

Petty Creek is a great way to avoid Missoula off the Interstate heading for the Root. Some gorgeous homes in there these days. mtmuley

 

[BigHornRam]

I just hope they dont burn the winter range right before winter like they did on the cutoff!

Hand pile burning was done in fall of 2018. Prescribed burn was done in May of 2019. Any link to what they did on the cutoff?

 

[MTelkHuntress]

I always heard stories of my dad and great grandfather hunting up there. I hadn't even been up there until this year just to check it out. Lots of paved road and houses there now. Interesting country.

 

[sethkuhl]

Hand pile burning was done in fall of 2018. Prescribed burn was done in May of 2019. Any link to what they did on the cutoff?

Don't know of a link. First hand information here, there was a great sheep hunting unit between Regis and Plains. The powers that be decided to do a burn to increase forage (in the fall mind you) Come spring time the sheep "disappeared" and they no longer give Big Horn tags in that unit.

 

[BigHornRam]

My understanding of the Cutoff herd die off is that they came in contact with a hobby flock of domestics near Plains. Had not heard that a prescribed burn was to blame.

 

[BigHornRam]

Don't know of a link. First hand information here, there was a great sheep hunting unit between Regis and Plains. The powers that be decided to do a burn to increase forage (in the fall mind you) Come spring time the sheep "disappeared" and they no longer give Big Horn tags in that unit.

Link for you to read Sethkuhl.

More Bighorn Sheep Die of Pneumonia Outbreak in Montana, Prompting Hunting Closures

A large scale Bighorn sheep pneumonia die-off, possibly related to domestic grazing, prompts another hunting zone closure in Montana.

www.wideopenspaces.com

 

[sethkuhl]

That was what was fed to me as well. "Officials representing Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks note the suspected massive die-off is common in wild sheep populations that have been exposed to illnesses like pneumonia contracted through interactions with domestic livestock. "
I believe that is a problem that some populations have had, I don't believe that was the case here. too convenient that they burn out their winter range, and the sheep disappear when they go to count them the next time. The time I spend hiking in there and have not found any carcasses nor has anyone that I know. This unit used to give out 22 ram tags in a year and now it is 0.

 

[tjones]

That was what was fed to me as well. "Officials representing Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks note the suspected massive die-off is common in wild sheep populations that have been exposed to illnesses like pneumonia contracted through interactions with domestic livestock. "
I believe that is a problem that some populations have had, I don't believe that was the case here. too convenient that they burn out their winter range, and the sheep disappear when they go to count them the next time. The time I spend hiking in there and have not found any carcasses nor has anyone that I know. This unit used to give out 22 ram tags in a year and now it is 0.

Where do you think the moved to? If almost a whole HD sheep population moved off somewhere the sheep count in some HD would have increased. Any ideas?

 

[sethkuhl]

I have a friend that saw a sheep close to Superior in First creek. Another that saw three in the little Joe South of Regis. If I were told to just guess I would say they scattered some went north and ended in the unit north of paradise some went south until they found a livable place and some went East to Petty? But that would be guesses. 90 sheep to just disappear is a ton. No one saw the herd getting sick? seems fishy at best. What I do have for fact as I watched it and said it was a terrible idea. THEY helicopter burned the area that I used to see those sheep in Right before winter hit. And it was not a small burn or an under burn, you can still see some of the scarring in that area. I am a huge advocate of burning, don't get me wrong. But I don't set my horses hay piles on fire going into winter!

 

[BigHornRam]

Who are "they"? Lolo National Forest Service? What year was the burn, and what drainage was burned? I am not finding any information about prescribed burns being done in that area.

 

[BigHornRam]

Found one prescribed burn in the area in spring of 2015 that the RMEF took part in. Could this be the one?

Fire between St. Regis and Paradise boosts elk habitat

While Montana’s wildfire season fully kicked into gear this week, some elk herds may actually be celebrating a fire that came and went last spring.

missoulian.com

 

[sethkuhl]

No this burn was not in the spring it was September or October 2012? It was a coop with the sheep foundation and the FS biologist out of plains.
I would imagine they were not proud of it to put it in the paper. If you want I can rustle up some information from the fire folks around here.

 

[BigHornRam]

Exact date of burn, location, size, and who funded it, would be helpful to find out more about this. If it was in September, that is not right before winter like you have previously stated. What forage was burned? Cheat grass? There is a lot of cheat grass in that area.

 

[BigHornRam]

RMEF funded some burning in the Falls Creek area in 2012. Is this the work you are referencing?

The Latest - MontanaNewsNow

montananewsnow.squarespace.com

"In the Lower Clark Fork region, vegetation will be thinned or burned on nearly 600-aces on the South Fork of Fish Creek, removing noxious weeds on 700-acres near Thompson River and burning 400-acres in the Falls Creek Flat area.
Partners for 2012 projects in Montana include the Bureau of Land Management, Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Forest Service and other agencies, organizations, corporations and landowners."

 

[sethkuhl]

Dave Wroblesky the USFS wildlife bioligist got money from the sheep foundation to burn it. I am doing some digging for you. Should have more info in the next couple of days.

 

[BigHornRam]

Link here discusses Unit 121 burn by Wroblesky and also mentions 2014 Cutoff burn that WSF helped fund. In another pdf file Wroblesky indicates 2014 burn was conducted in spring and fall covering approximately 4000 acres.

Wild Sheep Foundation

www.wildsheepfoundation.org