Decision issued on Glaze Forest rehabilitation project

The Sisters Ranger District recently settled on a management plan for more than 1,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land at the eastern edge of Black Butte Ranch. In addition to reducing the risk of wildfire, the much-anticipated decision is designed "to maintain and restore old-growth forest conditions" in an ecosystem known as Glaze Forest.

In mute testimony to the complex bureaucratic obstacle course the Forest Service is required to negotiate for any substantive project, the voluminous decision document topped out at a staggering 50 pages - not including a separate Environmental Assessment with pages numbering in the hundreds.

The bulk of the decision notice was devoted to responses to the 289 people who commented on the project. Comments tended to focus on the size of trees to be removed and riparian or wetland issues. Most comments were received by e-mail and were from people in Oregon, although three responses were received from foreign countries.

The hot-button issue seemed to be the diameters of trees to be cut. In summary, all trees with a breast height diamter of 21 inches or greater are to be retained and considerable discretion will be employed on any trees cut in the 16- to 21-inch range. The Forest Service decision, which was signed by Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony on May 9, said that approximately 80 percent of the trees to be removed are expected to be less than eight inches in diameter and 99 percent will be less than 16 inches.

In an effort to build community consensus, an interdisciplinary team representing varied public concerns was formed in 2005.

According to Anthony, "Building public trust in the science of ecologically applied silviculture to develop and protect old growth forests is a major purpose of this collaborative project."

Anthony's planning went so far as to include the interdisciplinary team in the actual marking of trees to be thinned, and the public was subsequently invited to view and comment on the tree marking process.

In the several years it took to bring the plan to this point, the Forest Service conducted more than 70 meetings and field tours with local agencies, governmental and Tribal interests, the timber industry, conservation groups, university researchers, wildfire protection agencies and other special interest groups.

Theoretically, planned implementation could begin as early as mid-June - if the decision does not become bogged down in the cumbersome appeals process. Regardless, some of the project will have to wait until winter. Most work in riparian areas will be done on frozen ground to minimize impact.

The principal riparian feature of the area is an upper portion of Indian Ford Creek. Since the 1970s, the creek's waters have been diverted and impounded for Black Butte Ranch golf course operations. As a result, careful monitoring of downstream conditions is even more critical because of decreased flow and increased temperatures from BBR's water impoundments.

Forest Service studies concluded that there is no affected habitat for endangered or threatened species in Glaze Forest. Several "sensitive" species were identified, however. Of those, no impact is expected for the northern bald eagle, bufflehead (duck), or the Crater Lake tight coil snail. Impact on red band trout was judged to be minimal and transitory, and the long-term effect on the fire-dependent wildflower, Peck's penstemon, is actually expected to be beneficial.

In all, the Glaze Forest project encompasses 458 acres of old growth forest, 416 second growth acres, 236 acres of meadow and 79 acres of predominant aspen groves.

In all, 1.6 million board feet of saw logs are slated for removal, along with 3,790 tons of biomass, such as pulp and wood chips. Anthony's decision states that, if a fire were to occur without the planned treatment "we can expect a fire that is much hotter and more damaging...."

Fires in old growth ponderosa forests tend to be low to the ground and of less severity.

According to Anthony, "The use of prescribed fire will help move the project area to the desired future condition of a more open, large tree dominated ponderosa pine forest that is less susceptible to large scale, stand replacement fires and has a more diverse understory."