Fires bar access to some wildlands

Vast land closures prompted by forest fires are of immediate concern to national forest visitors, especially backpackers and sportsmen heading into the backcountry for early hunting seasons.

The Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon are being swept by the second big fire in two years, but the Umatilla National Forest has been able to scale down some of the massive forest closures enacted last week in response to the Columbia Complex fires.

As of Wednesday, the Oregon portion of the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness was open to public access as well as forest lands east of Forest Road 44 and Wenatchee Creek on the Pomeroy Ranger District. Areas remaining closed include the Washington portion of the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness and Umatilla Forest lands that are in Washington west of Forest Road 44 and Wenatchee Creek.

At 82,000 acres, this year’s fires are already about 30,000 acres larger than last year’s School fire.

Washington hunters will soon find that fire has swept over about two-thirds of the Dayton Game Management Unit, and it’s burned the portion of the Tucannon Unit that did not burn last year.

But not all of the land within those acreages is burned. This year’s hunting prospects are still unclear.

Idaho Panhandle National Forests have closed a portion of Stateline Road 430 because of the Ulm Peak fire, and the Kootenai forest has closed several roads and trails on the Montana side of the fire.

Priest Lake-area fires have prompted closure of Navigation Campground on Upper Priest Lake well as nine trails in the nearby area and Salmo-Priest Wilderness.

The Mallard-Larkins region south of the St. Joe River is affected by the relatively small 290-acre Collins Tooth fire, prompting more temporary road and trail closures that were announced Wednesday.

Forest Road 395 is closed at Table Camp Trailhead, along with Trails 11, 109 and 110, plus the lookouts at Surveyors Ridge and Mallard Peak.

The Pasayten Wilderness, covering 529,000 acres in north-central Washington, is completely closed to the public. The Tripod fire has expanded to more than 161,000 acres and is burning in the Horseshoe Basin on the east side of the wilderness while the Tatoosh fire is burning on the west side toward the Pacific Crest Trail and into Canada near Manning Park.

Fires in central Washington also are affecting access to the Glacier Peak and Lake Chelan-Sawtooth wilderness areas, as well as the Chelan National Recreation Area. Access to the Kittitas County side of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness is being affected by the new lightning-caused Polallie fire.

Clearwater and Nez Perce national forest fires are causing road and trail closures near Elk City (Meadow fire) and Powell (Rabbit fire) as well as a small area along the Lochsa River and in Hells Canyon Wilderness. The southwestern third of the Gospel Hump Wilderness has been closed by the Heaven’s Gate complex fires.