Two big logging and tree-thinning projects on about 60,000 acres near Spearfish and Sundance, Wyo., are part of a long-range effort to reduce overly dense stands of ponderosa pines in the Black Hills National Forest.

The Moskee Project is 14 miles southeast of Sundance, on the Wyoming side of the Hills. The Citadel Project is about two miles southwest of Spearfish.

Both are set to begin next year.

They join more than 30 similar ongoing projects that are beginning to make significant progress toward what once seemed an unreachable goal.

A century of fire suppression had allowed overly dense stands of ponderosa pines to overrun much of the 1.2 million acres of the Black Hills National Forest.

Since 2000, however, the Forest Service has thinned - either by logging, noncommercial thinning or prescribed burns - about 340,000 acres, national forest spokesman Frank Carroll said.

Carroll estimated that Mother Nature had thinned another 200,000 acres of federal land - either by wildfires or mountain pine beetles.

In other words, about 540,000 acres of 1.2 million acres have been "treated," one way or another. "We're about halfway there," Carroll said.

The Moskee and Citadel projects, like all the rest, include commercial timber sales, noncommercial thinning and prescribed burns.

Bearlodge District Ranger Steve Kozel said the Moskee project, on about 22,500 acres of federal land, would increase meadows, give hardwood stands room to grow and improve wildlife habitat.

Five miles of roads will be built to log in the Moskee area, but 26 miles of roads will be "decommissioned." (The area is closed to off-road motorized travel.)

Northern Hills District Ranger Rhonda O'Byrne approved the Citadel Project to log and thin trees on about 38,000 acres of federal land.

The main purpose of this project is to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires that could threaten Spearfish. Other objectives are to slow insect infestations and improve wildlife habitat, according to a Forest Service press release.

About 17 miles of new roads will be constructed for the Citadel Project. About 35 miles of roads will be reconstructed, and 26 miles will be maintained. About 30 miles of roads will be decommissioned.

A 45-day appeal period for both projects began in mid-September, but under new Forest Service rules, only individuals or groups that participated in the previous comment period can file an administrative appeal.

Moskee, Citadel and the other 30-some projects are part of the complicated "Phase 2 Amendment" to the 15-year management plan for the Black Hills National Forest.

"Phase 2" is the result of compromises with environmental groups after their lawsuits challenging the original forest plan. The broad objectives of the revised plan are to:

* Reduce the threat of catastrophic fires and insect infestations.

* Increase meadows and hardwood stands.

* Improve wildlife habitat.

* Protect communities near forests.

* Sell timber.

At the current rate of logging, thinning, prescribed fires and natural events, in seven to 10 years, all 1.2 million acres of the Black Hills National Forest will have been treated. "Then, it will be a pretty healthy forest," Carroll said. "The trick will be keeping it that way."

No small task, since all the while new ponderosa pines will have been growing.

For more information

For more information on the Moskee Project, call the Bearlodge Ranger District in Sundance, at 1-307-283-1361. For Citadel Project information, call the Northern Hills Ranger District in Spearfish at 642-4622.

Documents on both projects are also available at the ranger districts or on the Black Hills National Forest Web site.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com