Name

Twisp River

Priority Landscape Category

20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan: Eastern WA Priority Landscapes

Description

In the Twisp River priority landscape (or priority planning area) ownership is 91% Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, 5% private, 2% DNR, and 2% WDFW. USFS management allocation is split between Matrix, Late Successional Reserve, and Wilderness areas.  45% of the planning area is dry forest, 25% is cold forest, 3% is moist forest, 19% is shrub-steppe, and 8% is other.

• Fire risk is very high across much of the planning area (Fig. 2), but large patches of open canopy forest exist where wildfires will be beneficial by consuming surface fuels. Burn probability is among the highest in eastern Washington.
• Treating 32-44% of forested acres is recommended to move the landscape into a resilient condition using a combination of mechanical, prescribe fire, and managed wildfire treatments. The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is currently planning a large restoration project in this area.
• Priority areas for potential treatments that maximize forest health and wildfire response benefit include high priority locations south of the Twisp River in the Lower Twisp sub-watershed and in the north-central portion north of Little Bridge Creek, as well as moderate priority locations throughout the Buttermilk Creek sub-watershed.
• In 2018, the Crescent Mountain Fire burned ~52,000 acres (32,000 acres within the planning area). Although the fire did some good restoration work, there is still a need for thinning and fuel reduction treatments in some low- and moderate-severity areas, as well as a need to monitor and possibly plant trees in some high-severity areas.

For more information download the full landscape evaluation summary below.  Data layers assocated with the landscape evaluation are available at https://bit.ly/ForestHealthData

External Resources