Bark Beetle Woes Trigger Logging Plans Forest Service Targets More Than 23,000 Acres Because Of Infestation, Which Has Hit Douglas Fir Hardest

More than 23,000 acres of national forest in North Idaho and Eastern Washington may be logged in response to the largest bark beetle outbreak in 40 years.

The beetle kill is hitting Douglas fir both in areas recently logged and old-growth forests never logged, the Forest Service said. The beetles bore under the bark, lay eggs, the young hatch and eat their way out of the trees.

The trees turn red once they die. Several area hillsides are expected to be dressed in red by spring.

“The first thing our scientists told us is that the bark beetle infestation is so widespread, there is not much we can do to control or stop it on a large scale,” said David Wright, supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

Because of that, the Forest Service is considering doing nothing. But the agency also is looking at logging areas five acres or larger, where more than half of the Douglas fir are afflicted.

Dollars from the timber sales would be used to deal with other unrelated national forest problems, such as too many roads. The funds would pay to obliterate or relocate problem roads and replace culverts.

Logged areas would be replanted with white pine, larch and ponderosa pine - which live longer and are more fire resistant than Douglas fir.

The outbreak is being blamed on decades of logging, fire suppression and other problems that have left the area’s national forests with twice as much Douglas fir as normal. In addition, the ice, snow and wind of the winter of 1996-97 and this year’s hot, dry summer have made the trees more susceptible to the beetles.

The unusually high concentration of Douglas fir, especially near cities and towns, has the Forest Service worried about fire danger.

Logging will be a top priority “in areas where beetle-infested trees are adding to the already high amounts of forest fuels, especially where private lands border beetle-infested stands in national forests, dead and dying trees,” Wright said.

The agency is worried the problem exists on private lands and, in conjunction with the Idaho Department of Lands, is offering to help private landowners.

The Forest Service proposes logging 15,000 acres on the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District and 9,000 acres on the Priest Lake and Newport Ranger districts.

It has not yet been determined how much timber would be taken.

The logging will concentrate on six areas in the Coeur d’Alene District: north and east of Hayden Lake, around Lake Coeur d’Alene, the Chain Lakes, Steamboat north of Kellogg and the Bumblebee and Hart areas near Prichard.

Farther north, logging is planned around Lower Priest Lake and the Watson area.

The Forest Service is asking for public comments by Dec. 17. A draft environmental impact statement is expected by early January.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Bug discussions The U.S. Forest Service will have three open houses to discuss plans to log areas with bark beetle infestations. Meetings are from 4 to 8 p.m. at these locations: Tuesday, River Pigs Inn in Priest River. Wednesday, Wallace Ranger Station, Yellowstone Street, Silverton. Thursday, Idaho Panhandle National Forests Supervisor’s Office on Schreiber Way in Coeur d’Alene.