Ancient trees in the Ross Creek Cedar Grove in Northwest Montana should survive the Sawtooth blaze, fire officials say.

The wildfire is burning less than a mile to the southwest of the 100-acre grove, which contains 500 to 1,000 year old western red cedar trees. Some of the trees in the grove are eight feet in diameter, and were already mature when Columbus set sail for the New World.

“The trees have survived large fires in the past, including the 1910 fire, because of how the area sits with natural barriers,” said Bob MacGregor, a fire information officer.

High humidity in the creek bottom has also helped protect the grove from past fires, MacGregor said. The Forest Service has also thinned nearby stands of trees in recent years to reduce the risk of fire spreading to the cedars.

Fire managers expect the cooler burning part of the Sawtooth blaze to pass near the cedars. The grove is located about 29 miles southwest of Troy on the Kootenai National Forest.

The Sawtooth blaze is part of the Clark Fork complex of fires burning on both sides of the Idaho-Montana border/Becky Kramer, SR.

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