News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Spruce budworm ravaged fir trees in the late 1980s and early 1990s, leaving dead and diseased trees in over 100,000 acres of the district.
The Forest Service has mapped the 1.2 mile home area of two pair of spotted owls. It will log and underburn portions of these areas that provide the owls with cover from predators, but does not plan to treat prime habitat where owls nest, roost and forage.
The agency will log five large areas (one is 44 acres) to remove dead trees, leaving unsightly openings in the forest. These patches will be especially visible from the Black Butte Ranch area.
Another problem with leaving large, open areas is that snow collects in the clearings. Subsequent melting often results in increased runoff and erosion.
Environmentalist Susan Prince of East Side Protection Project questioned the need to log large, green trees that provide important habitat. She is concerned about agency plans to interfere with two spotted owl pairs, but does not yet know whether her organization will appeal the decision.
At the same time, Prince did commend the Forest Service for choosing an alternative that calls for less logging and burning in sensitive watersheds, and on the home range of a third spotted owl.
The Sisters Forest Planning Committee will also reserve judgment until it has toured the area, as will Central Oregon Forest Issues Committee, which is concerned about the affect logging will have on two pair of spotted owls and their nesting, foraging and roosting areas.
Steve Huddleston of the Central Oregon Forest Issues Committee believes "The Forest Service could have taken a more conservative approach." He noted that the agency is treating large areas and removing live trees "instead of concentrating on mortality."
But Huddleston also said of the decision, "This is an example of where the system works." He said the agency responded to criticism that logging could harm bull trout by abandoning plans to log near several critical watersheds.
Environmental groups did express support for prescribed underburning.
Sandy Hurlocker of the Sisters Ranger District said the agency was trying to balance the risks.
"Treating owl areas is a tough issue no matter what. On the one hand, there is a lot of area at risk of fire, insect and disease. On the other hand, habitat is at risk if you do too much too fast," Hurlocker said.
If the agency does not log unhealthy areas, the risks to the forest ecosystem posed by catastrophic fire and insect infestation are greater, according to Hurlocker. But in treating those areas, he said the ranger district may destroy habitat.
Hurlocker noted that the agency is required to leave 15 percent of trees untouched to provide clumps of habitat for animals and plants.
Responding to concerns about logging healthy, green trees and habitat, Hurlocker explained that such thinning benefits overall forest health, "because when there are too many trees growing on any given acre that site cannot support them all--the trees compete for resources."
Hurlocker said that fire suppression and logging have allowed white fir to invade the natural territory of Ponderosa and Douglas fir. Thinning will concentrate on the fir.
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