The Flathead National Forest last week released an environmental assessment for a logging and thinning project in the woods stretching from Lion Lake to West Glacier. Called the Lake Five project, the project’s area is about 11,855 acres, but about 4,850 acres are private. The logging and thinning would only occur on the remaining national forest lands. There are about 305 cutting units proposed between the communities of Coram and West Glacier. None of them are overly large, however, and many abut private lands. Most of the timber in the project area is lodgepole pine that’s 5.5 to 9.9 inches in diameter. …About 556 acres would be replanted with Western larch or rust-resistant white pine, while 726 acres would be allowed to naturally regenerate. There is no old growth in the area. …Comments will be accepted until May 20.

For years, researchers have assumed high-severity forest fires to be responsible for declining northern spotted owl populations but a new analysis from the John Muir Project and Wild Nature Institue has shifted the blame to post-fire logging practices. “It turns out that the decline in spotted owl populations that sometimes occurs after forest fires is being driven by destructive post-fire logging practices, not by the fires themselves,” said John Muir Project research ecologist Dr. Chad Hanson in a prepared statement. According to the report, high-severity fires transform many western conifer forests into “snag forest habitats” which spotted owls use to hunt for small mammal prey. Such habitats are also targeted for post-fire logging projects. The assumption that spotted owls would be impacted by forest fires is logical because spotted owls tend to prefer dark, dense old-growth forests, said Environmental Protection Information Center executive director Tom Wheeler.

Jerry Franklin

Almost 20 years ago, the U.S. Forest Service essentially stopped logging older primeval forests on national forests in Western Oregon and Washington. Its harvests were halted by protests, legal challenges, species impacts and broadening social realizations of the ecological and wildlife benefits of such forests. The agency then switched to thinning plantations it had created after earlier clear-cutting of mature and old-growth forests. Once again, however, the Forest Service plans extensive logging of older natural forests. This is illustrated by the Forest Service’ proposed Flat Country Project … where almost 2,000 acres of mature forests would be logged. These forests were designated as potentially available for harvest under the Northwest Forest Plan developed in 1994 in response to the northern spotted owl crisis. However, primeval older forests are now grossly underrepresented in Oregon’s forested landscapes, and they provide important ecological services and have high social value. They should be permanently protected.

A proposed logging project on more than 16,400 acres west of Yellowstone National Park is being contested by four conservation groups. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and Native Ecosystems Council challenged the Custer Gallatin National Forest’s plan to conduct its South Plateau project over the next 15 years. The Forest Service has touted the logging as a way to prevent the spread of pine beetle infestations and to limit the damage of wildland fire by thinning trees. The work would require the building of more than 56 miles of road that would be restored after use. A final environmental assessment was released in February after the plan was modified to increase grizzly bear secure habitat by about 1,000 acres by closing three administrative roads.