Bark Beetle Plan Greeted By Skepticism

U.S. Forest Service efforts to battle insect infestations with salvage logging traditionally are financial disasters that don’t stem the bug outbreaks, a forest historian said Tuesday.

That includes a 1950s effort to deal with a spruce bark beetle outbreak over 600,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains, including Idaho. DDT and massive logging were weapons, said Paul Hirt, a Washington State University professor.

But, by the 1960s, Forest Service chief Edward Cliff concluded that cold weather - not the agency - had stopped the insects.

Hirt’s comments Tuesday were part of a panel discussion on the Idaho Panhandle and Colville national forests’ controversial proposal to log 153 million board feet of timber. The Forest Service wants emergency authority from its Washington, D.C., office to start selling timber on some of the land before all of the final environmental study is completed.

The Forest Service says the logging will reduce fire danger, slow the spread of bark beetles to private land and provide money to finance road obliteration and watershed restoration. But Hirt says he is skeptical the project will accomplish any of that.

Similar efforts have “usually cost and lost a lot of money (and) usually are done for a lot of reasons regretted afterwards,” he said during the panel discussion held by The Idaho Spokesman-Review.

Considering the Forest Service does not usually get the money it needs to do restoration, “I think we will get the roads built, the timber cut and one-third to one-half of the restoration done.”

David Wright, supervisor of the Panhandle National Forest, said the agency isn’t promising to stop the beetle outbreak or totally prevent fires. Simultaneously, the Forest Service has to do something in light of an epidemic insect outbreak that can easily spread from federal to state and private land.

Private timber landowners have worked hard to clean up after the 1996 ice storm that, in conjunction with dry summers, gave the beetles just the right conditions to erupt, Wright said. Now the Forest Service, as a good neighbor, has to do its part.

After years of fire suppression, there are between 35 tons and 100 tons more fuel per acre than normal, he said. That’s too much to deal with by way of controlled burns. This high fuel load also means a fire would burn extremely hot and do a great deal of damage. “There are serious consequences of doing nothing, especially in terms of fire,” Wright said.

He also encouraged people not to focus on the logging as much as on the proposed restoration. Three-quarters of the 765 miles of road obliterated in recent years were taken out with proceeds from timber sales, Wright said. Here’s another chance to use timber dollars to help forest health.

Amy Gillette of the Idaho Forest Owners Association said the Forest Service needs to expand its project to cover all of the estimated 125,000 acres of Forest Service land hit by the beetles. Bark beetle numbers have increased so significantly that they are leaving Forest Service lands and attacking green trees on private lands, Gillette said.

Everyone on the panel agreed fire is a serious potential problem, but differed on the solution.

Mike Petersen of The Lands Council, said the Forest Service is proposing taking the largest Douglas fir trees - the least likely to burn because of their size - suggesting this is about logging valuable trees not preventing fires.

The beetles will fly in the spring, long before the logging can begin, Petersen added. And most of the proposed logging isn’t taking place near private land, as the Forest Service suggests.

Roads were an equally controversial topic at the gathering. But along the way, Dan Dallas, Newport District Ranger, was complimented by The Lands Council for not proposing new roads on his part of the beetle sale.

Wright noted he has received significant public comment on the road construction and reconstruction on the Panhandle Forests. There are 35 miles of new road proposed, but now, “I have my serious doubts it will be that much new road construction,” he said.

WHAT’S NEXT Comment The U.S. Forest Service is accepting comments on its proposed Douglas fir bark beetle logging project until Tuesday at the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, 3815 Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene 83814.

AT A GLANCE Public comment Here is a sampling of written comments from audience members at Tuesday’s forum:

What should be done about beetle infestation? Salvage (thin) the U.S. Forest Service urban interface as soon as possible. - Tom Davis, Coeur d’Alene, consulting forester. The forest represents a huge value to the public and it should be recovered. - Mike Fish, Coeur d’Alene, Weyerhaeuser. Nature should be allowed to take its own course. Constant interference in forest ecosystems by logging practices in response to perceived threats from disease and fire have often increased the risk of disease and fire. - Hal Rowe, Spokane, Native Forest Network. With current technology, road building should be kept to a bare minimum. If it is necessary at all! - Ben Wolfinger, Coeur d’Alene. Non-commercial treatment. Some management where there is private lands. - Babs Egolf, Priest River, Selkirk Priest Basin Association. The Forest Service seems to already have its own plan in motion and while seeking public input is disregarding the same. - Randy Myers, Hayden. The dead and dying timber should be salvaged to the extent that watershed, fish and wildlife, and recreation values are maintained in the short-run and enhanced in the long-run. - Gerry House, Hayden Lake, board chairman, Hayden Lake Water and Sewer District. A high percentage of small logging sales would help to add employment in the region as well as help control the various beetle infestations. - Bill Weems, Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

Are there more alternatives the Forest Service hasn’t considered? Do minimum cutting away from urban interface; reintroduce fire into management. - Buell Hollister, Post Falls, Kootenai Environmental Alliance. We need to expand the scope of this project. This is not just an urban problem. We shouldn’t sacrifice the other areas. - Mike Welling, Hayden Lake, Idaho Forest Industries. Cut more acres, be lighter on the land. There are 125,000 acres of beetle infestation. - Stan Smith, Coeur d’Alene, Logger’s Council. Just let it be. There are documented cases of attempts at controlling insects that have caused more problems than solutions. - Troy Turdy, Sandpoint.

Which issues, if any, still need to be addressed? Consequences of litigation against Forest Service if inadequate action is taken. - Al Kyle, Post Falls, Idaho Forest Owners Association. Obliteration of roads may cause huge damage. - Gordon Tate, Coeur d’Alene, timber owner. Environmentalists need industry to do the physical work of restoration, which can’t happen without equipment, know-how and markets. - Frank Carroll, Lewiston, Potlatch Corp. The watershed problems of the Coeur d’Alene River system. The overwhelming majority of U.S.F.S. dollars and efforts are expended on timber sale issues. - John E. Bentley, Post Falls.