VIDEO: Phase one of forest mitigation work is underway on the Upper Grizzly Gulch Project near Helena.
The $24,000 project -- paid for by funds from the U.S. Forest Service -- is being done on 3,500 feet on either side of the road, which runs about a half mile past the intersection of Oro Fino Gulch Gulch and Grizzly Gulch.
Crews were utilizing a boom mounted grapple saw to make quick work thinning out trees by the road and piling them up on Thursday.
“This is kind of a unique project,” said Pat McKelvey, Tri County Fire Safe Working Group project manager. “This has U.S. Forest Service ground on one side, private ground on the other and it’s a county road.”