Pat and Judy McKelvey, forest landowners near Clancy, Mont., participated in the Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration project in the Tenmile watershed.
The project, part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program administered by USDA-NRCS, is to improve the health and resiliency of forest ecosystems where public and private lands meet through a partnership between the Forest Service and NRCS. The Tenmile project will improve the health of the forest land in the Tenmile Watershed, reduce fire hazard, and improve water quality in the drainage that provides the city of Helena 80 percent of its drinking water. The McKelveys developed a plan with NRCS to improve forest stand health, reduce hazardous fuel, control noxious weeds and improve water quality. Part of that work included tree thinning to reduce overcrowding and fire hazards and to generate revenue by logging. Jefferson County, Montana. June 2017.
. Original public domain image from Flickr