Hayden Creek shooting areas closed due to fire risk

COEUR d’ALENE – The Idaho Panhandle National Forests announced Friday that the next phase of the Kootenai Fuels Reduction Project will begin Monday and the closure of the Hayden Creek shooting pit on Forest Service Road 437 and adjacent areas will continue through Oct. 27 requires.

The emergency services carry out pile burning in the surrounding area, including below the shooting range.

The current shooting closure follows a longer closure in the same area that began in April, allowing non-commercial thinning, pruning and aggregation, a news release said.

The closure area extends along Hayden Creek and Stump Creek to the summit of Hudlow Mountain.

“We recognize that any closures cause inconvenience, which is why we are keeping them to the minimum necessary to carry out our mission safely and effectively,” said Holly Hampton, district ranger for the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger- District, in a press release. “In this case, closing the range is critical to protect the safety of crews working immediately below the range who would be in immediate danger if the range remained open.”

The Kootenai Fuel Reduction Project is a multi-year project covering 3,000 acres in the wildland-urban interface of Kootenai County. The goal of the project is to reduce the risk of forest fires by thinning out excess wood materials.