Forest Service Declares Beetle Emergency Decision Allows Agency To Get Started On Timber Sale Before Environmental Analysis Is Finished

Top Forest Service officials have declared an emergency in North Idaho’s Douglas fir beetle-infested forests.

This special clearance from Washington, D.C., means the U.S. Forest Service can start the process of selling timber on 4,000 acres of forest before an environmental analysis is finished.

A letter from acting Forest Service deputy chief Gloria Manning to David Wright, supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle Forests, cites the risk of beetle infestation and fire to adjacent state and private forests.

“The accumulation of dead fuels presents an extreme fire hazard in and adjacent to inhabited areas which threatens public and firefighter safety,” Manning’s letter states.

On March 15, Wright asked for permission to accelerate work on 4,000 acres of national forest stretching in a semicircle north of Hayden Lake to an area south of Fernan Lake.

Those are high priority areas because of their proximity to the cities of Coeur d’Alene and Hayden Lake, federal officials say. Regional forest service officials are also eager to address what they call a beetle epidemic across up to 25,000 acres.

An environmental impact statement evaluating the logging, however, doesn’t come out until May 15.

So on Thursday, Manning exempted the 4,000-acre parcel from a law that bans Panhandle officials from starting work on timber sales before the impact statement comes out.

Crews will start marking trees for logging next week, the first step in any timber sale process, said Brad Gilbert, in the Panhandle Forests’ Coeur d’Alene office.

The environmental impact statement includes several alternatives - including no logging. Panhandle officials released a draft version of the statement in January. It drew nearly 1,000 letters from the public.

Stunned members of the conservation community condemned the emergency declaration.

“The decision has been made already,” said Lisa Ramirez, a biologist with The Lands Council. “It’s an outright lie to say this will not affect the public’s involvement.”

Ramirez accused the Forest Service of using scare tactics about the risk of fire to speed logging. Heavy logging and fire suppression actually increase the risk of wildfires, she said.

Gilbert denied that starting the timber sale process will influence the agency’s final decision.

“It’s not a dictate that we implement this,” he said. “It only allows us to move forward.”

Members of the timber industry applauded the fast-tracking, calling it a much-needed solution to a possible disaster. Private timber companies fear beetles will fly onto their lands, and that the risk of fire from dense fir stands hit by the bugs is too great.

“This is the right thing for our community and for this part of the national forest system,” said Stefany Bales, with the Intermountain Forest Industry Association, representing 53 timber companies and mills in Idaho and Montana.

Potential buyers are already expressing interest, Gilbert said, including Idaho Forest Industries Inc., Crown Pacific L.P., and Columbia Helicopter Logging.

The Forest Service can’t actually award contracts until 30 days after the EIS is released, according to Gilbert. The logging still can be appealed in that time, he added.

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Crews will start marking trees for logging next week, the first step in any timber sale process, according to the Panhandle Forests’ Coeur d’Alene office.