Montesano forest land to close to vehicle traffic

Montesano, WA – The City of Montesano is planning to close their forest land to vehicle traffic for the Summer.

Montesano Forester Loren Hiner told the Montesano City Council on Tuesday night that they are expecting to close the forest to vehicle access on July 1 for the Summer for the fire season.

Hiner said in the past they have not had the ability to close gates and have just posted that the roads were closed.

Hiner said that those signs were “blatantly ignored by a lot of people”.

Montesano City Councilman Ian Cope told KXRO that there are threats to the city’s timber.

This closure also comes after reports of vandalism in the city’s forest.

According to Hiner they are currently closing the land to vehicle traffic only but if the fire danger gets too extreme they will close it to all traffic.