A proposal that would allow the harvest of 23.7 million board feet of timber from the Swan River State Forest will soon be before the state Land Board for final approval.

The massive project would include harvesting from 1,884 acres in the Three Creeks area, approximately seven miles south of Swan Lake, and would include 1,221 acres of old-growth timber. Approximately 47 miles of roads would be improved and 19 miles of new roads would be constructed.

The executive summary states that the timber sale would generate around $3.5 million dollars for the school trust funds.

Daniel Roberson, unit manager for the Swan Lake State Forest, chose Action Alternative B out of five total alternatives ranging from zero harvest to an even larger 26 million board feet of timber.

"Based on public comments and studies, Alternative B is the one proposed," David Groeschl, forest management bureau chief for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said. "The driving force behind this choice has been because of insect and disease problems. A large amount of mortality is spreading, and this alternative focuses most on addressing those areas and those stands with the highest amount of insect and disease."

Other alternatives had different emphases. For instance, Alternative C maximized revenue and Alternative E included just 446 acres of old-growth forest.

"In a lot of those areas [slated for harvest], we're slowly losing the species best adapted to combat insect and disease, and more shade-tolerant species are moving in," Groeschl said. "They aren't as reflective of the historical mix of species and aren't as resistant. They also create more ladder fuels, which increases the risk of devastating fires."

Groeschl said that a mix of intermediate thinning to more aggressive harvest will - in the long run - encourage growth of more native trees to create a healthier forest.

Opponents of the timber sale, notably Friends of the Wild Swan, say the large amount of timber chosen for harvest is based on meeting state timber quotas rather than good management.

"We have the dark cloud of the timber target hanging over the project," Arlene Montgomery, director of Friends of the Wild Swan said. "I think they need to get rid of the timber target. It sets up a quota that they are going to meet no matter what, and that's not good for the land or for managing biological diversity."

Groeschl denied that the timber quota is driving forest management decisions.

"Our foresters and specialists are very conscientious," he said. "This study had an ID team of a large range of professionals. The focus is on good management. Volume and revenue are byproducts of good management. Let's get the right management on the ground first."

In addition to the timber harvest, the project would replace a wooden bridge that cannot support heavy machinery, remove five old bridges, relocate a portion of the South Fork of Lost Creek Road to the north, construct 7.5 to 16 miles of new roads and up to seven miles of temporary roads and prepare logged areas to grow new trees.

Habitat and Wildlife

Threatened and endangered wildlife for the area include the Canada Lynx, the Gray Wolf and the Grizzly Bear. Each action alternative that included harvest will result in increasing the density of open roads while decreasing the amount of hiding and thermal cover for both predator and prey.

Sensitive species such as the Fisher and the Pileated Woodpecker will also lose some habitat. For the Fisher, quality habitat along riparian (wet) areas will be reduced and in some cases remove habitat options in upland areas. To mitigate concerns for the Pileated Woodpecker, large snags and snag-recruitment trees will remain, but nesting and foraging opportunities will reduce.

The executive summary of the Three Creeks study, which began in February 2004, states that in 10-20 years, the regenerated forest will actually improve habitat quality for wildlife.

Montgomery states that the timber sale will be harmful for area wildlife, especially in the short-term.

"They are logging over 1,200 acres of old-growth forest habitat," she said. "They have no plan of how they are going to continue to provide this type of forest habitat. They don't really look at what the logging and roads will do in the short-term. The accumulative impacts of what they are going to do has not been adequately studied."

According to Groeschl, however, the harvest will have a positive impact due to the return of a more historically accurate forest.

"When we look at our forests up in the Swan, a lot of our cover type is mixed conifer because of encroachment of shade trees," he said. "This was much less prevalent historically, but has happened because we've kept fire out. We're trying to move cover types back to historic levels.

"There are some species that are more associated with old-growth and will experience temporary displacement, but over the long-term it should benefit wildlife, which is what we're going for."

Streams and fisheries

Logging activity, creation and improvement of roads and reclamation of old roads will increase sedimentation for the South Fork Lost Creek, Cilly Creek and Soup Creek areas. The goal, however, is to decrease sediment delivery into the waterways.

South Fork Lost Creek, for example, currently receives about 20 tons of sediment each year from existing roads. The proposed road repairs would reduce that amount to about one ton per year. Cilly Creek currently receives about three tons of sediment from roads each year, and road repairs would reduce that amount to one to two tons per year.

Alternative B would increase streamflows on Cilly Creek about nine percent, which gets close to causing channel erosion.

Soup Creek would see the most dramatic reduction in sedimentation, from 36 tons per year to about two tons per year.

The study's executive summary claims that logging activity shouldn't negatively impact populations of bull trout (threatened) or westslope cutthroat trout (a species of concern), but Montgomery reiterated her concerns about short-term sedimentation effects on these trout spawning streams.

Economics

Besides forest health, the goal of the timber sale is to generate revenue for the school trust. Timber management continues to be the primary source for trust revenue.

Montgomery questioned the actual benefit for the school trusts.

"They don't have an accounting system that tracks cost from individual timber sales," she said. "We don't know if sales are making money or losing money. "

"Revenue generated by every timber sale is tracked very closely," Groeschl said. "Our accounting program tracks revenue by harvest unit and overall timber sale. Typically, our appraisals of estimated revenue are very conservative. Sales typically bring in 2 to 2.5 times more than what is estimated."

Montgomery said that she will be contacting the state Land Board concerning the Three Creeks Timber Sale. She said she requested a meeting with the DNRC and Land Board, but nothing has materialized at this point. She was unsure about whether or not a lawsuit will take place.

"We'll try administrative avenues to see if we can find a way to make this not so egregious," she said. "Litigation can be an option for any agency decision, but it's not our first option."

Email this story

Printer friendly version

Comments

Comments are limited to 200 words or less.

Click here to view a list of commented stories.

Views expressed in reader comments are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Hagadone Montana Publishing, LLC or its member newspapers. Users of the Web site can remove offensive comments by using the "Remove Comment" feature provided. (see rules) --- Webmaster

No Comments Posted

Express yourself. Register once and comment on any story. Start Here!