HELENA — There are about 1,500 slash piles on Mt. Helena above LeGrande Cannon Boulevard, and a viewer wanted to know what the plans are for them. MTN found out they are part of ongoing fire mitigation work on Helena’s open lands.

According to City of Helena open lands manager Brad Langsather, the piles are the result of thinning and pruning trees on a 36-acre area of Mt. Helena land. Langsather manages the city’s 2,500 acres of open lands; his job includes maintaining 45 miles of trails, dealing with weeds and importantly, mitigating fire danger.

“The city’s lands are uniquely positioned on our vulnerable western and southern flanks where prevailing winds in the summer could potentially drive a wildfire toward the community,” Langsather said.

The project above LeGrande Cannon Blvd. is part of that wildfire mitigation work. Last September, workers cut trees, pruned branches and assembled the slash piles. Now, the piles are drying.

“These piles will need to go through one summer period to dry adequately so they’re prepared for burning,” Langsather said.

While the piles may look like a fire hazard, Langsather said they are less of a danger than the pre-treatment landscape.

The piles are scheduled for burning between Dec. 1, 2025 and March 1, 2026. Burning the piles does not signify the end of fire mitigation work.

“It’s never completed,” Langsather said. “In fact, each site needs to be visited on an approximate 10-year interval.”

Langsather said the goal is to get open lands back to their historic tree-stocking level of about 75 to 100 trees-per-acre.

“Pre-treatment stocking levels on this landscape were nearly 1,000 trees-per-acre,” Langsather said.

Up next for tree thinning—about 500 acres in Mt. Helena City Park and in Mt. Ascension Natural Park.