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 in the event of fire.
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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.
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. Further thinning was completed in 2007-08. 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.
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Swan Ecosystem Center developed a mile-long, self-guiding 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. Interpretive signs and exhibits help people understand the forces of change at work in the forest.
Exhibits in the Everchanging Forest Visitor Center at the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center provide information about the local ecosystem.
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