Timber sustainability a concern
Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
Over the past decade, the Black Hills National Forest has been the top, or one of the top three, national forests in the country for commercial timber volume sold. Recent data shows, however, that this harvest plan cannot be maintained, according to Jerome Krueger, acting forest supervisor of the nation’s first national forest.
Five years ago, after a period of aggressive harvest, wildland fires and a mountain pine beetle epidemic, the sustainability of the forest was questioned by representatives from the timber industry and employees within the forest service, Krueger explained.
“There was general concern raised around the level of change in the forest,” Krueger said. “We looked at the forest as a whole and the condition had been significantly changed. Anytime there is a significant change you need to take time, pause and see if what you are doing is the right thing.”
According to Krueger, the past 20 years in the Black Hills has involved an aggressive harvest program, which was used to mitigate the effects and spread of the mountain pine beetle. The program was considered successful, and the epidemic ended a few years ago.
“The epidemic has ended and forest data indicates there is little potential for a repeat for several decades. What has changed is the amount of high-quality information about the forest. We invested heavily in collecting the very best forest inventory data (actually doubled the normal number of plots) in order to have reliable data on which to make informed decisions,” Krueger said. “On the Black Hills, we have more high-quality forest inventory data that has been analyzed more thoroughly than any piece of public land in the United States. This data has revealed a significant change in the forest from 1997, that mountain pine beetles, wildland fire and our harvest program has reduced the standing inventory by 65%. It is our obligation to understand the impact this reduced forest inventory has on our ability to continue a commercial timber harvest program in a sustainable manner.”
To determine the best approach to timber harvesting in the Black Hills, Krueger said, the Forest Service teamed up with other stakeholders, including the timber industry and other concerned parties. In order to better analyze what was actually happening in the Black Hills as far as growth and mortality goes, Krueger said, double the “gold standard” plots of land were analyzed over three consecutive years.
“We have more high-quality data than any piece of public land in the United States. We know more and we know more reliably,” Krueger said. “Based on that data, in order for us to meet our legal mandate to manage the public land in a sustainable way, we asked the Rocky Mountain Resource Station to do an assessment of the timber sustainability. They then developed a draft report that has garnered a lot of attention.”
In addition to holding virtual meetings, Forest Service employees, timber industry representatives and environmental groups provided comment on the proposed changes to the timber harvest, Krueger said. A total of 125 comments were submitted on the draft report that was released in January, he said.
The final report will not be released until August, Krueger said, and will include consideration of all the comments. After the final draft is released, the information will be used as a tool to make an informed decision on the timber harvest in the Black Hills moving forward, he said.
“This is just the next step in the process, and this is what is referred to as shared stewardship at work. We are not behind closed doors making these decisions. We are doing it in a transparent way, and everyone who has a stake in the management of the resources is at the table,” Krueger said.
According to Krueger, the board-foot allowance for timber harvest in the Black Hills will need to be decreased to prevent the inventory in the forest from becoming depleted. It is crucial to work with all invested parties to choose the best option moving forward, he said.
“This is public land, and there are a lot of people with vested interest in it. The best solutions come from those situations when you get the most information and input,” Krueger said. “Having people at the table to have conversations, whether it is about grazing or public activity, getting those vested people will yield a better product. That is why shared stewardship is so important.”
The overall goal of all those involved, Krueger said, is the sustainability of the Black Hills Forest for a whole host of reasons.
“The conversations are hard, but the point is to get the best product in the end. It is our obligation in the shared stewardship journey to get to a sustainability of resources,” Krueger said.
At this point, the Forest Service and those involved in the process are working to answer the questions and concerns posed in the
document.
“I think there was some controversy around the analysis and the scenarios that were put forth in the document. That’s why it is important for the public comments to come in. Those 100-plus comments will go into the revised document that comes out in mid- to late August,” Krueger said.
There is no hard deadline for making a decision on the timber harvest allowance, Krueger said. The final decision may not be one of the previously presented scenarios, he said.
“We are going to continue the dialogue. We have not reached the destination. We are only at one stage of the journey,” Krueger said.
Anyone interested in further information about the analysis of the timber harvest in the Black Hills is encouraged to visitfs.usda.gov/detail/blackhills/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=fseprd731012.
Correction:
In the May 28, 2020, issue of the News Letter Journal, in the page 1 article “Timber sustainability a concern,” Jerome Krueger is the acting forest supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest, which had the nation’s first timber sale. The nation’s first forest, however, is the Shoshone National Forest, which covers nearly 2,500,000 acres in Wyoming.