Editor’s note: The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) has a commitment to ensuring Montana’s land and water resources provide benefits for present and future generations. The DNRC is an important partner in the Blackfoot Valley FLN, although this project is not connected to that effort. This story was originally published by the DNRC in May 2025 as part of the agency’s series of Montana Forest Action Plan project highlights. To learn more about the Forest Action Plan and read about other projects, visit DNRC’s Montana Forest Action Plan page. All images in this blog post are credited to the DNRC.
Just five miles south of Helena, in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, the Brooklyn Bridge area was once a prime example of Montana’s dense landscapes that was heavily impacted by the mountain pine beetle outbreak in the 2010s. This outbreak left the area overloaded with excess fuels.
“If a wildfire were to ignite in the nearby forest, firefighting efforts would have been extremely difficult and dangerous for crews on the ground,” said Gary Ellingson, DNRC Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) Bureau Chief.
The Brooklyn Bridge GNA Project arose out of the 2014 Ten Mile South Helena Project decision that aimed to change how fire moves across the landscape, while addressing impacts to westslope cutthroat trout and recreational uses for the long term. To reduce the risk of a high-severity fire near Helena and its surrounding communities, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Helena Ranger District and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) partnered on the Brooklyn Bridge timber sale.
“The Forest Service had multiple objectives for implementing this project,” said USFS District Ranger Kathy Bushnell. “Our primary goal was to use a combination of thinning and prescribed fires to change how future wildfires would move across the landscape and mitigate wildfire severity to communities such as Park City, Unionville, and the South Hills of Helena.”
The project utilized the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) program, which allows foresters from the Forest Service and DNRC to come together to execute forest management, wildfire fuel reduction, and other restoration projects on federal lands. GNA helps the USFS treat more federal acres in Montana and gives DNRC a seat at the table for managing forests in a cross-boundary approach. Additionally, GNA bolsters the state’s forest products industry while reducing the costs to taxpayers.
“It’s great that GNA can work in partnership with the USFS to manage forests in a way that benefits wildlife, the forest products industry, and nearby communities,” said Steve Marks of Marks Lumber, a local mill in Clancy.
In March 2020, the 640-acre Brooklyn Bridge project timber sale was sold to Marks Lumber, with logging operations slated to begin that June. Among the designated areas, Unit 106 was identified along the ridgeline to reduce future wildfire severity.
However, just days before operations commenced, on June 13, 2020, the Lump Gulch fire started just south of Brooklyn Bridge. The fire raced uphill, burning through 124 acres of the project area, including much of logging Unit 106. By June 26, 2020, the fire had burned a significant portion of Unit 106, killing most of the live trees and reducing the commercial value of the standing timber.
“The 2020 Lump Gulch fire behaved exactly as predicted, reinforcing the necessity for treatment in the Brooklyn Bridge area,” said Ellingson. “The fire began downslope, made a run uphill towards the top of the Brooklyn Bridge ridgeline, and threatened to travel downhill towards Helena. Fortunately, a combination of favorable weather conditions and prompt firefighting efforts halted the fire’s progress.”
Despite the setback, logging operations resumed after the fire was contained. Unaffected units were harvested as planned. Salvaged lodgepole pine and Douglas fir were processed at Marks Lumber, Sun Mountain Lumber, and Marks-Miller Post & Pole, while dry or dead wood was sold as firewood across the state, from the Blackfeet Reservation to West Yellowstone.
The burned portion of Unit 106 was treated separately from the timber sale and still served as a fuel reduction project.
“By treating the burned area of Unit 106, DNRC and USFS significantly decreased future wildfire risk by reducing remaining fuels, as well as prepared the site for regeneration of the next cohort of trees,” said Luke Bertram, GNA Forester in Helena.
The standing and horizontal fuels were mechanically cut and piled, then burned in late fall 2024. This spring 2025, native seed will be planted in areas of exposed bare mineral soils to mitigate the spread of weeds while providing native grazing forage for wildlife. GNA foresters will continue to monitor the project area to ensure successful regeneration of tree species.
The Brooklyn Bridge project complements decades’ worth of forest management within the South Hills of Helena.
“The Brooklyn Bridge GNA collaboration contributes greatly to the ongoing forest improvements in this area,” Ellingson said. “The DNRC and the Forest Service’s commitments to our shared goals have led to improved forest health and reduced high-severity wildfire risk. This is a prime example of how a partnership like this can maximize successful work happening on public lands.”
Looking ahead, DNRC and USFS will monitor forest regeneration and wildfire resilience in the Brooklyn Bridge area, implementing periodic thinning or prescribed burns as needed to maintain the fuel break’s effectiveness. Using GNA, the agencies are working together on other high-risk areas for similar fuels reduction projects. Through proactive planning, cross-agency collaboration, and long-term stewardship, the Brooklyn Bridge project serves as a model for wildfire risk reduction and restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems across Montana.
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