Timber sales slated for Sisters Ranger District

Four major timber sales and a collection of small sales could remove up to 13 million board feet of lumber from the Sisters Ranger District this year.

According to district supervisory forester Slater Turner, the equivalent of approximately 77,778 18-inch trees would be removed if all the sales are completed.

Three of the four major sales were previously put up for bid as part of the Santiam Restoration Project, but Turner said the sales received no bidders.

"They were put up for bid last year," he explained. "But the chip market was way down and a lot of purchasers felt what we were asking was too high."

"The chip market is climbing a little bit, but it's still pretty slow and we have to appraise (the sales) at market value," said Turner.

Preliminary appraisal for the "Wood Tick" sale, which would extract over 2.5 million board feet, came in at about $16.40 per hundred cubic feet, or a "total sale value around $82,000 to $83,000," he said.

The remainder of the sales have yet to be appraised.

Only trees under 21 inches would be removed in the Wood Tick sale, according to Turner. The "Bugs" and "Springtail" sales are the other two that fall under Santiam Restoration.

Springtail would involve thinning trees up to 13 inches as well as "tree culturing," where foresters cut any trees less than 21 inches that are near ponderosa pines larger than 25 inches.

"We want that to be the dominant species," said Turner.

Environmental surveys are complete for all projects except Bugs, which Turner said will still require "another round of surveys for 'survey and manage' species."

Bugs is the largest of this year's timber sales, with more than 5 million board feet of timber due for cutting.

The fourth major sale is a thinning project known as "Bear Garden" and is part of the Big Bear Analysis in the Green Ridge area.

Turner explained that the current timber harvesting program is part of evolving forest practices in the National Forests.

"We can do better for the land and we're definitely striving for that," he said.

Bids for all current projects will be advertised prior to September 30.