Land In Passes To Be Set Aside For Preserves

Sun., Dec. 7, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

More than 330 square miles of forest east of Snoqualmie and Stampede passes will be preserved for wildlife rather than be used primarily for logging, U.S. Forest Service officials have decided.

The plan adopted by the Wenatchee National Forest staff after four years of study covers the 212,000-acre Snoqualmie Pass Adaptive Management Area, one of 10 areas reserved for “compromise approaches” to logging and wildlife under the Northwest Forest Plan.

The designation means there will be “no programmed timber harvest,” but “there could be some thinning of forests if that would help grow larger trees,” Wenatchee forest supervisor Sonny O’Neal said.

That qualification makes some environmentalists uneasy.

“‘No programmed harvest’ does not mean there will be no logging,” said Charlie Raines, a Sierra Club forest expert.

“We would like to see the Forest Service commit to not build any new roads,” he said, “and we would like to see them commit to harvest small trees only - no old growth.”

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