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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Loggers Seek Cures To Forest Ills

Tired of being portrayed as villains, loggers and foresters said Thursday they have the expertise to heal sick forests while coexisting with threatened wildlife.

The opening session of the 57th Intermountain Logging Conference sought to answer the question, “What’s Killing Our Forests?”

The answer?

Fire suppression, drought, disease, insects and a change in species, experts said. Instead of forests dominated by hearty, fire-resistant ponderosa pines, frail firs have taken over.

On the Boise and Payette national forests in southwest Idaho, trees are dying faster than they’re growing, said Jay O’Laughlin, University of Idaho forestry professor.

He recommends thinning out fir trees so they don’t outcompete pines for sunshine and moisture. He also urges replanting historic species - ponderosa pine, western larch and western white pine.

University of Montana professor Ron Wakimoto said the emergence of fir over pine is creating a tinderbox in the interior West.

“We’re creating bombs across the country by ignoring these forest health issues,” he said.

Dead and dying forests are catalysts for destructive fires, Wakimoto said, while properly managed forests can keep blazes at low intensities - the way nature intended.

By excluding fire from the ecosystem, federal land managers are defying their goal of ecosystem management and setting the stage for catastrophic fires, he said.

“Last year we poured money out of the sky on fires that probably should not have been fought,” Wakimoto said.

Federal wolf biologist Mike Jimenez, who tracks a pack just northwest of Missoula, applauded loggers for aiding his research efforts.

“You’ve been painted with horns in your heads,” Jimenez said.

Logger Craig Thomas was overseeing a harvesting operation last year at Ninemile, Mont., while Jimenez’s pack repeatedly kept a watch on his workers.

The loggers’ interplay with the wolves was relayed to Jimenez’s agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

What the agency learned was that this particular wolf pack chooses to live in a heavily roaded area near people, clearcuts and gold mines.

On several nights, up to nine wolves surrounded loggers camping at the harvest site, “howling and clicking their teeth,” Thomas said.

Jimenez said wolves rarely pose a threat to humans but are so curious they’re vulnerable, the biologist said.

The biggest obstacle to maintaining viable wolf populations is not land disturbances like logging, he said, but people with guns.

“Loggers and miners really don’t have a lot of effect on wolves,” Thomas agreed.

The conference continues through Saturday and will address such topics as the 1994 wildfires and new logging technology.