In letters to the Clearwater National Forest, an attorney for Plum Creek pointed the finger at the independent contractors hired to log two tracts of company-owned forestland.
In both instances, no Plum Creek employees were on-site when sparks created by logging equipment accidentally ignited the wildfires, said attorney Stephen Thomas of the Boise, Idaho, law firm Moffatt Thomas.
Thomas's letter came in response to a "demand letter" sent to Plum Creek on Feb. 28, asking the company to reimburse the Forest Service for firefighting costs - nearly $1 million on the Bear Camp fire, and more than $10 million on the Crooked fire.
The Clearwater National Forest is responsible for fighting wildfires on all public and private land in the Lolo Pass area. More times than not, those fires are lightning-caused.
During the 2000 fire season, though, two wildfires were traced not to nature but to logging on the timberland Plum Creek owns in a checkerboard pattern with the Forest Service on either side of Lolo Pass.
The smaller Bear Camp fire began on June 28 in timber northwest of Powell, Idaho, as loggers used skyline yarding equipment to take trees off the mountainside.
An investigation eventually blamed a cable running across the rocks, said Doug Gochnour, the Clearwater forest's administrative officer. The cable caused so much friction it threw sparks into the dry fuel. The Bear Camp fire burned 275 acres, 43 of which were on the national forest.
Firefighting costs totaled $972,718.
A month later, just as the Bear Camp fire was dying down, loggers working on another piece of Plum Creek land - this atop Lolo Pass - ignited the Crooked fire. It overwhelmed all attempts at suppression until rain showers doused the forest in September.
Again, investigators blamed the fire on the operation and maintenance of the yarding machine, Gochnour said. "The engine was running very inefficiently, and unburned fuel and carbon particles were flying out of the exhaust and into the logging slash."
The Crooked fire burned 4,800 acres, of which 2,673 acres were on the Clearwater National Forest. Firefighting costs totaled $10,634,153.
On Monday, Gochnour said Plum Creek's reluctance to pay the bills will in no way deter the Forest Service from its reimbursement mission.
"The U.S. citizens - taxpayers - are out $11 million, so that's what we are working to recover," he said. "We really don't care who pays us. There's just an outstanding cost to the taxpayers that we want to recover."
The Forest Service also sent demand letters to the independent contractors hired by Plum Creek to log the trees - Salmon River Wood Processing of Missoula on the Bear Camp fire, Truett Timber Faller of Potomac on the Crooked fire.
Gochnour said he has been contacted by an insurance company representing Salmon River Wood Processing, and has provided more information about the specific costs incurred during firefighting to the insurer.
Whether the insurance company will pay all of the firefighting costs remains to be seen, he said. "But absolutely, we intend for someone to pay."
The Forest Service has not received a reply from Truett Timber, and the Missoulian could not contact the company Monday. With no reply from Truett and an emphatic "no" from Plum Creek, the Crooked fire's file has been turned over to Forest Service lawyers, Gochnour said.
The Forest Service believes both Plum Creek and its logging contractors are responsible for the costs, he said.
Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at sdevlin@missoulian.com
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