Forest Service Proposes Logging Allowance 5 To 9 Percent Of Panhandle Reserve Could Be Harvested Over Next Decade

Commercial logging in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests would occur on between 5 percent and 9 percent of the land during the next decade, under a new Forest Service proposal released today.

Commercial harvest on most of the Colville National Forest would happen on a maximum of 5 percent of the ground.

At least, those are the commercial logging levels the federal government is proposing in the release of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project’s draft environmental analysis. The sweeping environmental review is open to public comment beginning today.

The project looks at 72 million acres of land administered by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The draft environmental impact statements cover public lands in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, Idaho, western Montana, northern Nevada, and parts of Utah and Wyoming.

There are seven alternatives proposed. Those are outlined in summary publications mailed earlier this week to people who already are on the mailing list for the project.

The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have selected a management alternative that calls for medium to light commercial logging in North Idaho and eastern Washington. Their preferred alternative, however, calls for high levels of pre-commercial thinning.

“Most of the harvest under alternative four is a different type of harvest,” said Kathy Campbell, of the Forest Service. “They will be smaller diameter trees and they will be harvested for different purposes, not to get timber volume.”

Some of those reasons include reducing fire hazard and improving species composition of tree stands.

“Some people are saying we are increasing the cut,” she said. “But it is a different kind of cut. This will not be the large harvests of 1986.”

Public comments will be taken on the proposed management plan until Oct. 6. The final plan is due by the summer of 1998.

People who want a copy of the summary plan can call (208) 334-1770 or (509) 522-4030.

The project is an outgrowth of President Clinton’s 1993 Forest Summit. It is the most comprehensive forest and rangeland study ever undertaken.

The $35 million effort is in its fourth year and involved 300 scientists and technicians from federal and state agencies, universities and private contractors.

, DataTimes