Spilyqy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 5, 2004
Psge 10
r1
Urn
Fire creates air quality problems
Gerry Shippt
Air Quality Sptcialist
Tribal Natural Resound
The air quality at Warm Springs is
usually very dear with nearly unlimited
visibility, and healthful. However, the
Log Springs fire near Simnasho is caus
ing unusually high amounts of particu
late ash in the air.
The particulates are coarse and fine
air particulates, which can be unhealthy
for sensitive people such as children,
elderly, adults who are active outdoors,
and especially people with asthma, res
piratory or heart disease.
The Natural Resources Department
cautions sensitive persons to limit their
time and activity outdoors, because
these types of air particles can accu
Timber: managers try to
(Continued from page 1)
There was a question about water
and it's potential impact on standing
trees. Foresters noted when water tables
are high for a long period of time it
may result in mortality to lodgepole pine.
That is one cause of mortality. With
out intensive analysis, which we are not
set-up to do, we are not sure of the
exact cause of the mortality. We do
know that water tables fluctuate and
most trees cannot survive long peri
ods of time in water.
The topic of blowndown also drew
some interest from tribal members.
Blowdown will be harvested along with
standing trees within blocks proposed
for treatment. Significant blowdown
outside harvest blocks will be salvaged
when it is economically viable.
On a different subject, one person
asked if the Mutton Mountains had
been replanted following the Simnasho
Fire. Foresters responded by saying the
Mutton Mountains were replanted
soon after seedlings became available
and conditions were appropriate.
During one of the scoping meetings
a tribal member asked if the team was
promoting tree harvest in areas desig
nated as conditional use. The project
leader said the PIDT was not trying to
promote harvest in conditional use ar
eas. The team's intent was to show the
present conditions throughout the
project area, which included lands des
ignated as conditional use. However,
RMIDT has instructed the PIDT to
use only the commercial forest land
base in developing harvest alternatives.
Conditional use is a designation for ar
eas with high resource values where
management is limited and highly re
stricted. Conditional use ground is not
part of the commercial timber base.
These areas contain unique and sensi
tive resources and are protected from
conventional management practices.
Wildfire is the only exception to the rule.
Tribal members often ask about the
number of times an area is entered for
timber harvest during a single planning
period. They are also interested in
knowing how many trees are removed
during a sale. The number of harvested
trees is not calculated, but we do know
the project area has yielded 35,058,000
board feet of timber since 1994. Most
of the units suitable for tractor logging,
with the exception of those in the higher
elevations, have been entered multiple
times.
One individual wanted to know if
the tribes sold a lot of logs to markets
in California following last year's dev
astating fires. WSFPI does not sell any
raw logs to buyers in California. They
do sell 500,000 to 800,000 board beet
of lumber to various markets in Cali
fornia each month.
Fish and wildlife
Bull trout are somewhat controver
sial among tribal members. One per
son said they don't believe in protect
ing bull trout The staff responded by
saying there are a lot of tribal mem
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mulate in the respiratory system and
are associated with various health ef
fects. For example, people with diseases
such as asthma, long-term lung disease,
heart disease, or the elderly are at in
creased risk of admission to a hospital
or emergency room.
Children or persons with lung prob
lems may not be able to breathe as
deeply or as fast as they normally
would, and they may experience cough
ing and shortness of breathe.
Also, unusually high amounts of
particulates can increase the risk of
respiratory infections and can aggra
vate respiratory diseases such as asthma
and bronchitis. Sensitive people arc
advised to minimize their outdoor time
and activities under these conditions.
bers who do want to protect bull trout
The staff noted that measures aimed
at protecting bull trout also benefit a
variety of other species. For example,
stream buffers, road eradication and
fencing of riparian areas protect
aquatic resources and provide benefits
to many species, not just bull trout.
Managers are trying to enhance
conditions for spring Chinook, summer
steelhead, rainbow trout and other na
tive fish. Bull trout require higher-quality
habitat (colder water, cleaner spawn
ing gravel, etc.) than do summer steel
head or Chinook salmon. By maintain
ing habitat conditions that are suitable
for bull trout in Shitike Creek or any
stream, we insure the protection of
high quality habitat for spring Chinook
and summer steelhead. In terms of
cultural significance, the Natural Re
sources general manager said Wasco
tribal elders attest to the significance
of bull trout.
The debate over whether or not to
close roads has been going on for some
time, but there is little debate about the
benefits of this action for wildlife. It
has long been known through research
and intuition that closing roads benefits
deer, elk and other wildlife. Open roads
have no known benefit to wildlife spe
cies. Prescribed fire and tree
thinning have been shown
to enhance huckleberry
production, and oral
histories support the
theory that fire was used
in the past to improve
berry production.
The miles of roads open to vehicu
lar traffic have a direct relationship to
the quality of wildlife habitat. In gen
eral, fewer open roads means better
wildlife habitat. The wildlife biologist
said comments from tribal members
received during meetings to discuss big
game hunting seasons generally favor
road closures.
Culture
Cultural plants are extremely impor
tant to tribal members and there are
often comments in reference to huck
leberry areas during scoping meetings.
The PIDT archeologist says the most
productive berry patches, in particular
huckleberry, are located in the high
country between elevations of 4,000
and 6,000 feet.
Prescribed fire and tree thinning
have been shown to enhance huckle
berry production, and oral histories
support the theory that fire was used
in the past to improve berry produc
tion. Fire suppression has greatly reduced
the amount of open, disturbed habitat
available within the ecological range of
big huckleberry. Thinning of commer
Yakamas sign cigarette-tax
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The
state of Washington and the Yakama
Nation have signed a cigarette taxa
tion agreement
The announcement came from
the Washington governor's office last
week.
Under the agreement, the
Yakama Nation will impose a tax on
purchases by non-Indians equal to
the combined state cigarette and sales
tax.
In exchange, the state will not
impose its tax on cigarette purchases
by non-Indians from reservation
smokeshops.
improve conditions for fish,
cial timber stands in the high country
could potentially improve huckleberry
production in existing stands given that
the plants are not damaged during log
ging. Logging over snow is a way to
protect fragile plants, obtain timber and
increase sunlight for the huckleberries
in the summer.
Silviculture
Another issue affecting forest health
is dwarf mistletoe infection. Histori
cally, dwarf mistletoe was controlled by
fire. Fire would either burn the plant
or kill the tree it was in. Dwarf mistle
toe can cause deformity or death to its
host tree, which subsequently makes the
trees a priority for harvest.
Because it takes four years for the
mistletoe plant to emerge after infec
tion, it is hard to insure all mistletoe is
removed from an area.
Dwarf mistletoe is a naturally oc
curring plant and its total removal is
not realistic or desirable. The objective
is to control mistletoe so that it doesn't
spread in epidemic proportions or have
too great an impact on forest produc
tivity. Our treatments are primarily
developed to remove the infected over
story from the uninfected understory.
Tribal Council approved forest health
and value priorities through IRMP.
There was a question about dust
clouds created by motor vehicles hav
ing a negative impact on roadside trees.
The PIDT siliculturist said that dust
flying up along roadsides does not af
fect trees.
One tribal member wanted to know
about planting trees once a unit has
been harvested. It was explained that
planting is done on most harvest blocks
to insure the new stand is stocked to
the prescribed number of seedlings.
The forest development section over
sees the annual planting of approxi
mately 2,000 acres with one million
seedlings. White fir is not one of the
species planted, however, it does repro
duce naturally quite Well. The open bid
ding process determines which plant
ing crew gets the contract.
Another question arose about har
vesting fire-killed trees. Some burned
areas will be harvested based on value
of the timber. In high elevation burn
areas huckleberry plants are regener
ating and foresters are optimistic about
future production of these cultural
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It was the twelfth such agreement
the state has reached with Indian
tribes since negotiations began in
2001.
Revenue from the tax will go to sup
porting the Yakama Nation's govern
ment services.
"This agreement ends decades of
conflict over this issue," Gov. Gary
Locke said in a news release.
"It is an excellent example of how
the state and tribes can benefit from
government-to-govcrnmcnt interac
tion." As sovereign nations, Indian tribes
are not subject to state taxes on ciga
plants.
Transportation
Roads are always an interesting topic
so far as tribal members are concern
and the 2006 sale is no exception. A
tribal member asked why some roads
that have been closed are later re
opened. The forest engineer answered
by saying the decision to reopen roads
is made during the project planning
process. The primary reason roads are
reopened is because managers have
determined they are needed for a pro
posed management activity.
There is no limit to the number of
times a road will be opened and then
closed. Decisions are based on need.
In some cases, if all of the timber is
harvested from an area and no other
reason for maintaining access is identi
fied, the road may be closed for 40
years or more.
Tribal members can find a map of
open roads and proposed closures in
the project assessment covering the
area in question. Wood cutting maps,
updated annually, show the open roads.
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agreement
rettes.
The state loses revenue when
non-Indians buying cigarettes from
tribal smokeshops fail to pay the
tax.
The Yakama Nation plans to
phase in the tax for non-Indians be
ginning this fall.
Jerry Meninick, Tribal Council
Chairman of the Yakama Nation,
made the following comment:
"I commend Governor Locke
and the Department of Revenue for
helping bring all sides together to
reach this agreement."
berries
BIA system roads (approximately
700 miles) must be kept open for pub
lic use. Exceptions are made and roads
are closed as necessary to protect the
road, pubic safety or natural resources.
In the early 1990s, a matrix of roads
was identified as being necessary for
annual use by various natural resource
departments.
This matrix is commonly referred
to as the Admin Road Network. Ac
cess for fire preventionsuppression
played a major role in identifying addi
tional roads to be kept open.
In the case of allotments, at least
one open road is maintained to pro
vide access.
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