Logging choices offered for Santiam corridor

Forty-four citizens posted 30 reactions Tuesday night to four alternatives for salvage logging in the 7,000 acre Santiam Corridor.

A standing room only crowd filled the conference room of the Sisters Ranger District to hear Forest Service officials detail four alternatives for managing the area where large stands of dense, white fir are visible along Highway 20.

After the alternatives were presented, the audience used adhesive backed note paper to stick comments on each of the four alternatives which were taped to the walls of the conference room.

Comments ranged from letting nature take its course to returning the forest to full, productive health.

"The existing stand is a result of neglect and gross mismanagement," read a note attached to Alternative one. "This is what happens when public opinion was substituted for professional management." Other comments were more favorable.

Sisters Forest Service Officials will use the comments to refine and clarify the alternatives leading to the completion of the Environmental Impact Statement and a decision on a preferred alternative in May.

The three purposes driving all four alternatives are to reduce the risk of high intensity, large-scale wildfire; to move closer to historic range of conditions including a more diverse forest; and to restore the views along the Santiam highway.

Alternative one calls for no action. The possibility of a high intensity fire is likely under this choice. The second alternative calls for 3,000 acres of harvested timber and 1,500 acres of firewood, poles, posts and other non-commercial uses depending on funding.

Alternative three calls for a harvest of 1,800 acres and the same 1,500 acres of non-commercial uses. The fourth alternative includes 1,200 acres harvested and 200 acres of non-commercial use.

A low to moderate intensity fire is likely under Alternative two. That choice includes creating a fuel break on the north and west sides of the project area. Alternatives three and four project a moderate to high intensity fire with the fuel break of Alternative two included in choice three. Alternative four proposes a fuel break surrounding the recreation areas of Suttle and Blue Lakes.

Alternative two was favored by comments from members of the woods products industry. "This is the best of the alternatives presented," stated one note. "It still doesn't do enough to increase forest health. This should be the preferred alternative."

Another comment on this alternative asked about the "unacceptably high" impact of this choice on the spotted owl habitat and standing old growth timber.

"This is just picking at the scab," read one comment on Alternative three, "so why waste manpower and tax dollars." Another reaction asked what happens if the harvest units do not attract bids from the woods products industry.

In answer to that question, Inga Petaisto, Sisters District silviculturist, said the project team plans a field trip April 22 for sampling of the timber quality in the management area.

Before the alternatives were presented, Rick Dustin, Forest Service landscape architect, said 96 percent of the 112 comments the district has received favored removing all the dead trees. "The overwhelming response is "we want you to cut the dead trees along the Santiam,' " he said. "I'm surprised there were no hands off comments."

The timeline for the Santiam Corridor project includes analysis of the effects of each alternative from now until about the middle of April, taking into account the posted public comments from Tuesday's meeting.

The Environmental Assessment will be completed in mid-April followed by a 20-day period of public comment. The decision notice is expected the end of May.

"Depending on how long it will take to mark and cruise the units," Petaisto said, "we feel we will have the sale ready for auction by the middle of summer, about the end of July. If we sell it, the purchaser would want to start as soon as possible."

The public is welcome to look at the detailed maps of the four alternatives including computer generated pictures of how each management action will appear on the landscape by contacting the Sisters Ranger District office at 549-2111.