F.S. Chief views dying forest

Mike Dombeck, the new chief of the Forest Service, toured fire and disease devastated areas of the Deschutes National Forest on March 13.

Before testifying about forest health issues to Congress on March 18, Dombeck wanted to look at damaged forests and talk to Forest Service professionals, industry representatives and conservationists.

Dombeck took over from retiring chief Jack Ward Thomas on January 6.

Dombeck toured the budworm ravaged forests along the Santiam corridor as well as the site of last summer's Skeleton fire near Bend.

Impressed with the "breadth of professionalism" among local Forest Service employees, Dombeck said that the Deschutes National Forest was having some success in treating dying stands.

He said that responsibility for making decisions should be pushed back down to the local level.

The "culture" in the Forest Service that has pushed the decisions up the chain of command needs to be reversed, he said. Dombeck said he can't know what is best for the Deschutes National Forest in Central Oregon while sitting in Washington D.C.

Although he was encouraged by what he saw in Central Oregon, he acknowledged that the Forest Service has a way to go to reestablish public trust.

Speaking at a forest health meeting in Hood River Thursday after leaving the Sisters Ranger District, Dombeck said "the level of distrust is at an all time high. And as stewards of the public's trust, we simply cannot ignore that fact. We must build a support base for forest ecosystem restoration. In some cases, it will increase the supply of wood fiber to local mills; in others, it will not."

To build the trust, Dombeck told his forest managers that "one way is by avoiding areas of controversy early on. We all know where the areas of controversy are -- old growth and roadless areas."

Over lunch at Black Butte Ranch, Dombeck said there are millions of acres that need treatment. It is not necessary to go into the more controversial

areas to find areas that need attention.

At lunch the new chief was seated between John Shelk, owner of Ochoco Lumber in Prineville, and Tim Lillebo, conservationist with the Oregon Natural Resources Council.

Shelk warned Dombeck that "without some level of timber, you will lose the tools of being able to put up a timber sale (for forest restoration) versus a service contract." With a timber sale, timber companies pay the Forest Service. With a service contract to remove small trees and dead trees that would fuel a disastrous fire, the Forest Service pays for the work.

Lillebo argued that the agency needed to "decouple the commercial sale from the forest health. Do the service contract, then sell the product separately."

Only in this way could the public believe that a timber sale was designed for forest health reasons, and not for revenue reasons, Lillebo said.

Dombeck told the group that the Forest Service has had to focus too much on conflict.

"We are dwelling on adversity instead of preaching the gospel of good managementWe spend entirely too much energy on adversity, when we need to spend more on forest health and fuels reduction. We say we don't have dollars for treatment, but look at what we spend on fire suppression," Dombeck said.

Last year, the Forest Service spent more than $9 million fighting forest fires on the Sisters Ranger District. That was more than three times the district's annual budget.

Dombeck said he was going to tell Congress that there is a forest health crisis and "we've got to get moving." He believes that forest management decisions need to be based "on science, not on budgets."

"we must aggressively work with the regulatory agencies, conservation groups, and industrywe must effectively communicate to people the consequences of inaction and the many benefits of restoration," Dombeck said at the forest health meeting in Hood River.

Before taking the reins at the U.S. Forest Service, Dombeck was acting director of the Bureau of Land Management for three years. Prior to that, he was with the Forest Service for 12 to 13 years in Michigan, Wisconsin and California. He was a fishing guide for 11 years, and has a Ph.D. in fisheries biology.