Daily Archives: December 9, 2019

Letting forest fires burn, or even intentionally setting them, has often been considered good forest management. But that policy has become problematic as more and more people build homes in forested areas.  Now, some innovators have come up with a new way to clear and renew America’s woodlands. A massive tree-eating machine called the feller buncher is used to thin out trees on the Trinchera Blanca Ranch in Colorado… The goal is creating a sustainable forest. A sustainable forest is more fire resilient …At Trinchera Blanca Ranch, thinning creates its own problem: what to do with all the excess trees, including thousands of acres killed by mountain pine beetles. So Blanca Forestry Products was born. The sprawling lumber mill produces about 20 million board feet of lumber a year sold across two dozen states. And what helps manage the forest comes with about 70 jobs that help people up and down the rural valley.

As catastrophic wildfires become more frequent across the West, people are looking for a single culprit, but it’s not that simple, Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser said. …A series of wildland fires racing across California caught the nation’s attention in October. …But it was a viral “Smithsonian” magazine article about goats that caught the eye of Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower. “Goats — grazing goats — saved the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California,” Driskill said. “…nobody grazes anymore.” …While no forest is fireproof, a healthy forest is less likely to suffer catastrophic fire damage, Crapser said. …A significant portion of managing forest health is targeted timber harvests, which are usually handled by private contractors, Crapser said. …Grazing isn’t a part of the Yellowstone National Park fire management plan, but the park is warming up to the idea of using private contractors for timber management, said Yellowstone’s John Cataldo…

When we were young children in the early ’90s, we saw the timber industry here in Southeast Alaska collapse due to a lack of profitability, despite half a century of heavy federal subsidies. We are the daughters of loggers and commercial fishermen, and grew up on Prince of Wales Island, the largest and the most aggressively clear-cut island in the Tongass National Forest. Decades later, our politicians are still trying to resurrect a moribund timber industry that could never stand on its own in the first place. As lifelong residents of Tongass communities, we strongly oppose the U.S. Forest Service’s current effort to end the vital protection that our home currently enjoys under the Roadless Rule. …The so-called timber industry that Alaska’s politicians romanticize collapsed years before the Roadless Rule was put into effect. It’s important to remember that the timber industry has been less than 1% of our regional economy for decades. 

The Nov. 21 My Turn by the Trout Unlimited Alaska Director of Law and Policy made many allegations, all of which were wrong. Trout Unlimited (TU) claims logging threatens fish and wildlife, but fish populations in the areas that were logged have more than doubled since the logging commenced in the 1950s. Further, Alaska Department of Fish and Game hunter harvest data indicates that the logged areas are also sustaining deer harvests that are at or above the levels in other areas of the forest. Many of these areas have been supporting high levels of deer harvest for over 50-years. The TU assertions that 66% of the “largest and best stands” have been cut is absurd. Less than 8% of the commercial timber on the national forest has been harvested, and those stands are already supporting thriving stands of young-growth timber.

Peter Daugherty

The Oregon Board of Forestry has put Peter Daugherty, the state forester, on a performance improvement plan to address dysfunctional relationships with some board members, poor communication with the board at large and concerns over the agency’s financial condition. In a Oct. 30 letter to Daugherty, board chair Tom Imeson said the plan stemmed from a discussion the board had after its retreat on Oct. 9. He said the recommendations for corrective action were endorsed by the entire board and the governor’s office. Tensions between board members, the department and Daugherty have been evident for some time, particularly those members appointed to bring a conservation voice to the board: retired businessman James Kelly, fish biologist Cindy Williams and retired Oregon State University forestry professor Brenda McComb.