Cooke City forest project returns with smaller footprint, lingering questions

The Custer Gallatin National Forest last month revived a long-awaited and controversial forest project near Cooke City with a slightly smaller scope. The agency rescinded it earlier this year following a legal threat filed by environmental groups. This newest iteration of the Cooke City Fuels and Forest Health Project, resubmitted in October, will thin 2,788 acres of forest within a broader, nearly 20,000-acre swath of the Custer Gallatin around Cooke City, just northeast of Yellowstone National Park. The main goal of the project, according to the agency, is to increase fire resilience in the area. Commercial harvest dropped by about 54 acres in the new proposal. The Forest Service also trimmed a large swath of habitat for the threatened whitebark pine from the project. “We’re really pleased to see the Forest Service respond to the public comment period,” said Max Hjortsberg, co-director of the Livingston-based nonprofit Park County Environmental Council.

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