Wyoming's Bighorn Nat'l Forest: See Why Dubya doesn't like Public Comment???

[JoseCuervo]

When opened to Public Comment, people always support more hunting opportunities by choosing the Wilderness designation. And despite that, Dubya and the FS still prefer another option???

JACKSON -- A representative from Wyoming's timber industry said this week Bighorn National Forest officials must decide in coming months whether to let nature or man take the lead in managing resources in the forest.

Ernie Schmidt, president of the Wyoming Timber Industry Association, said his organization has not selected a preferred alternative from a Forest Service draft management plan, but how the "multiple-use" mandate is enacted is key.

"I think the big decision is, do people want a managed forest or do they want it managed by natural processes meaning insects, disease and wildfire," Schmidt said. "We think it's substantially better to use the resources than to burn them."

Schmidt said Alternative E would allow the most use of timber harvesting -- and the least amount of burning -- to manage the resource.

Schmidt, who is with Wyoming Sawmills Inc., a company buying lumber from the forest, said even without his business, the Bighorn National Forest is not a place for extensive burning.

"Fire is not a practical management tool," Schmidt said. "You're going to have catastrophic killing of trees."

He said the forest is primarily lodgepole pine and spruce, and those trees have thin barks. Fire, if it doesn't kill the trees, will make them significantly weaker and more susceptible to insect infestation.

"There's starting to be major insect infestations in some of these forests where they had not had them in the past," Schmidt said. "Right now what's happening in a lot of our forests, primarily because of lack of management combined with drought, the trees are so weak that populations of insects are going from endemic to epidemic where they're just going like crazy.... Under some of these alternatives, like Alternative C, it's all natural process so that's what would happen."

But Liz Howell with the Wyoming Wilderness Association said the choice is broader than fires or harvests or losing trees to insects.

"Roadless areas are important for protecting our drinking water, wilderness areas are important for our wildlife," she said. To think that "the choices for managing our forests are either cutting it down or letting it burn -- that's scare tactics."

A range of alternatives is included in the Forest Service's draft plan for the Bighorn National Forest, which will guide management in the forest for the next 10 to 15 years.

"We are estimating that large, stand replacing fires will occur under any alternative selected," the Forest Service document said. "The (document) does not predict the amount of wildfire that will occur by alternatives because some of the factors influencing the number and size of potential future fires are contradictory. For example, Alternative E envisions the largest road system, which could lead to improved response time and more initial suppression success."

The document also said Alternative E might lead to more fires because many fires are started by people.

And, the forest plan states that less than 50 percent of forested land on the forest is "suited for timber production, which can be thought of as the amount of land legally available to manage for commercial wood product objectives."

The forest encompasses about 1.1 million acres.

There are five sawmills in the area reliant on the Bighorn for timber. Forest planner Bernie Bornong said officials use a spectrum of cuts to manage trees, including clear cuts.

He said lodgepole pine grows best in bright, open, dry conditions. Spruce, by contrast, grows best if harvested by selection.

People are being asked to submit public comments with specific examples of areas they would like to see protected or opened to more commercial uses.

For example, the Piney Creek area south of Sheridan is examined in three alternatives to leave it largely as it is today. In two other alternatives, the area is examined for possible timber harvests that would include road building. The option of keeping those roads open for recreational use is also examined.

Forest officials have said they are receiving the most comments in support of Alternative C, the only alternative that considers designating areas for wilderness consideration.

Forest officials prefer Alternative D, which continues many current management practices. But the amount of land deemed suitable for timber harvest would drop to 184,606 acres with the alternative. Under the current plan, 262,000 acres are deemed suited for timber production.

The draft forest plan is open for public comment through Sept. 30 and is subject of open houses later this month, Additional information is available at (http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/bighorn), click on "Forest Plan Revision."

Written comments can be sent to: Bighorn National Forest Plan Revision, 2013 Eastside Second Street, Sheridan, WY 82801. E-mail comments to ([email protected]).

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at [email protected].

BOX

Acres suited for timber harvest

Alternative A: 271,895

Alternative B: 124,521

Alternative C: 62,093

Alternative D (preferred alternative): 184,606

Alternative E: 305,535

 

[Bambistew]

Its only 260,000 acres... According to Ithica and YOU thats nothing when it comes to hunting oppertunity anyway.