Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 3.25.15

14 | MARCH 25, 2015 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM Opinions Differ on Suitable Timber in Flathead Forest
Timber executives opti- mistic about logging levels targeted in revised Forest Service management plan
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
Local timber executives are general- ly supportive of the initial targets for log- ging that are proposed in the U.S. Forest Service’s revised management plan for the Flathead National Forest, while en- vironmental groups are criticizing the agency’s increased levels.
The agency earlier this month re- leased a proposed revision of the Flat- head National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, or forest plan. The current plan has not been formally re- vised since 1986 and this latest edition will guide management decisions for 15 years after it is officially adopted. The plan is open to public comment through May 5.
Among the forest-wide changes pro- posed in this latest edition, the agency has identified 637,419 acres of land in the Flathead National Forest that are suitable for timber production. That number has fluctuated over the last 30 years based on new analyses and court decisions. The 1986 plan initially tar-
geted 707,000 acres but that dropped to 670,670 acres under the eventual record of decision. When the revision process restarted a decade ago, the agency re- duced its target amount to 328,328 acres of suitable timber but that figure was modified once again and rose to 528,044 acres, according to the Forest Service, before the revision process was halted in spring 2007 due to national litigation.
The agency arrived at its latest pro- posal by establishing standards and conditions to guide timber output, in- cluding: “Timber shall not be harvested on lands where soil, slope or other wa- tershed conditions may be irreversibly damaged,” “Timber harvest activities shall only be used when there is reason- able assurance of restocking within 5 years after final regeneration harvest,” and “Harvesting systems shall not be selected based solely on their ability to provide the greatest dollar return.”
The target amounts in the 2015 plan were based on the Flathead National Forest’s average budget levels over the past three years.
Paul McKenzie, lands and resource manager at F.H. Stoltze Land & Lum- ber in Columbia Falls, said he is encour-
aged by the initial timber objectives in the forest plan, although the company continues to review the finer details and plans to submit comments.
“What we don’t want to have happen is for the forest plan to be yet another barrier for them. It should enable them to do their job,” McKenzie said. “I think they’ve been working pretty hard to do that.”
McKenzie does strongly disagree with the agency basing its figures on bud- getary levels. He said the agency should properly calculate the sustainable yield limit and determine what the maximum amount of suitable timber is instead of creating figures based on funding levels.
“The plan should say what the land needs,” he said.
Arlene Montgomery, program direc- tor of Friends of the Wild Swan, similar- ly criticized the Forest Service for how it arrives at target harvest levels. She
the environmental impacts? That’s what the National Environmental Policy Act is all about. You can’t say just because we have a lot of trees we can cut them down.”
Montgomery said she had not had a chance to properly review the entire for- est plan, but she fears the agency is try- ing to return to the logging heydays of the 1980s.
Tom Ray, vice president of North- west resources and manufacturing for Plum Creek, said he believe the proposed levels of suitable timber in the latest for- est plan do balance the needs of wildlife, recreation and forest management. He did say the amount of board feet should be closer to 48 million annually, though.
“We think, on a biological basis, there’s an opportunity to see more man- agement,” he said. “With the number of acres of dying and diseased timber, there’s an opportunity to make this a
lion board feet of timber harvested each year, which would be the equivalent needed for roughly 1,750 homes.
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