Standard Peak Roadless Area, just west of Glacier National Park on the Flathead National Forest, is located in one of the most scenic of all the Rocky Mountains' many outstanding landscapes. This area provides some of the richest habitats for the grizzly bear found anywhere in North America and serves as a link in the chain of important forested lands and wildlife habitat from Yellowstone to the Yukon. It is perhaps most notable for the important role it plays in the life cycle of the bull trout, a species that the federal government lists as threatened. Standard Peak includes portions of the Big Creek and Coal Creek drainages, which form part of the watershed that sustains spawning grounds for the bull trout. As one indication of the severe problems facing this fish, last year-and for the first time ever-the Forest Service failed to find any bull trout reds (nests) during the agency's annual census.
In August 2001, a forest fire that started in north-central Montana burned in Standard Peak and on adjacent lands. Now the Forest Service proposes timber salvage sales that would allow the logging of more than 1,000 acres in the roadless area. The sales would interrupt wildlife movement and likely add sediment to streams, thus degrading fish habitat. Given the already precarious state of the bull trout and Standard Peak's role in maintaining populations of this fish and other wildlife species, the rationale for salvage sales is highly questionable. The Forest Service is developing a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the salvage sales, due before summer of 2002, with a final decision expected before the end of the year.
