Big trees will stand

Foresters will cut down trees and clear underbrush along Highway 20 west of Sisters, but they'll leave the big trees standing.

Trees over eight inches in diameter will remain standing as part of the 9,300 acre forest management project.

The Sisters Ranger District released a decision last week on the Highway 20 Integrated Vegetation Management Project. The restoration effort will involve cutting trees under eight inches, underbrush mowing, and prescribed burning.

According to Sisters Ranger District Landscape Architect Rick Dustin, this strip of forest is not as healthy as it appears.

"The Highway 20 project is green," Dustin said. "It appears as a healthy natural landscape, when in fact the entire corridor is in the same danger of disease and fire (as the Santiam LSR project)."

The Santiam Late Successional Reserve is located north and west of the Highway 20 Project area and is due for a major timber harvest later this year.

But there will be no commercial timber harvest in the Highway 20 Project.

In fact, Dustin noted, "This is the first time an analysis was started with the specific focus on thinning trees under eight inches."

Although some commercial products, such as posts, poles and firewood, may be obtained, the Forest Service will not be able to rely on commercial harvest for funding.

"There is no timber sale to help fund the project," Dustin said. "We are looking for partnerships (with local businesses), such as an 'adopt-an-acre' program, to help pay for the mowing and thinning."

In order to achieve project goals, forest managers are proposing a handful of amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan.

Lack of funding may require an amendment to clean-up restrictions. The plan dictates that any slash be removed within one year of thinning, but Dustin reports that "they may not have the money to clean-up" in this time frame.

Another amendment will be required to burn and/or mow more than twice the allowed acreage in deer habitat areas.

"If we were to treat the (standard) 2.5 percent of the area per year, it would take 42 years to treat the fuels in deer habitat," Dustin said.

He questioned whether forest users would be willing to risk fire danger throughout this extended period.

A third plan amendment will allow prescribed fires on parcels larger than the maximum five acres. According to Dustin, the Forest Service may burn as much as 200 acres at once.

The Highway 20 Project decision is subject to appeal. Written appeals must be submitted by the close of business on July 13 to Reviewing Officer Robert Williams, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623.

For more information on the or to obtain a copy of the environmental assessment and decision notice, contact Rick Dustin of the Sisters Ranger District at 549-2111.