Pqge 10
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
July 7, 2005
Tribal members comment
By Dill Rhoadca
for the Spilyay Tymoo
An interdisciplinary team
from the Forestry and Natural
Resources branches has been
collecting tribal member com
ments on Wildland Urban Inter
face (WUI) projects proposed
for 2(K)5. Responses to a num
ber of comments and concerns
arc included with this article pro
duced for Spilyay Tymoo read
ers. The focus of WUI is to pro
tect rural homes and communi
ties from wildfire. This objective
is achieved by thinning over
stocked stands of timber and
mowing underbrush throughout
the urban interface where wild
fire is a perceived threat.
The 2005 WUI projects will
treat approximately 8,800 acres
in the Sidwaltcr, County Line
and Warm Springs community
areas over the next five years.
The process for planning this
project officially began in March
of 2005 when the project inter
disciplinary team (PIDT) com
pleted its second and final
scoping meeting with the tribal
public. Meetings were held for
Agency, Seekseccjua and
Simnasho districts, initiating the
process to complete a draft
plan. A field review of the pro
posed project areas will be
scheduled with the annual Tim
ber Tour this summer.
Fish scientists report pressure to alter science
(AP) - Many scientists at
NOAA Fisheries, the federal
agency responsible for balanc
ing hydroelectric dams against
endangered salmon, say they
know of cases where scientific
findings were altered at the re
quest of commercial interests,
according to a survey released
Tuesday by two watchdog
groups.
The survey was conducted by
the Union of Concerned Scien
tists and Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility.
The survey posed 34 questions
and was sent to 460 NOAA
Fisheries scientists across the
country. Responses came back
from 124, or 27 percent.
"The conclusion is that po
litical interference is a serious
problem at NOAA Fisheries,"
Lexis Schulz, Washington repre
sentative of the Union of Con
cerned Scientists, said from
Washington.
Among the findings:
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The PIOT, which presents
information about the proposed
project to interested tribal mem
bers, is comprised of individu
als from the technical staff and
committees. The team includes
a fish biologist, forester, wildlife
ccologist, hydrologist, fuels man
ager, forest engineer, silvicultur
ist, archeologist, range conser
vationist, soil scientist, writer
editor, representatives from
tribal committees, and a repre
sentative from Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries
(WSFPI). Presentations made
during the scoping meetings con
tain general information regard
ing the project area and treat
ment objectives. All team mem
bers and members of the tribal
public arc encouraged to attend
the meetings.
Comments from the scoping
meetings are used to develop a
planning document known as a
project assessment. The assess
ment contains alternatives for
implementing the project, a
strategy to monitor the project
after it has been implemented,
and mitigation measures to off
set negative impacts. The project
assessment will include analysis
of the affected environment,
environmental consequences
and cumulative effects. After
considering input from the
tribal public, the PIDT will de
velop at least two alternatives,
58 percent of respondents
said they knew of cases where
high-level Commerce Depart
ment appointees or managers
inappropriately altered NOAA
Fisheries determinations.
53 percent said they were
aware of cases in which com
mercial interests inappropriately
induced the reversal or with
drawal of NOAA Fisheries sci
entific conclusions or decisions
through political intervention.
13 percent said they knew of
cases where environmental in
terests inappropriately induced
the reversal or withdrawal of
NOAA Fisheries scientific con
clusions or decisions through
political intervention.
44 percent said NOAA Fish
eries routinely makes determi
nations using its best scientific
judgment, even when political
pressure is applied, while 37
percent disagreed.
Steven Murawski, director
of scientific programs and chief
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Example of trees in a wildland
one emphasizing a balanced ap
proach to resource management
and another focusing on the sta
tus quo, often referred to as the
no action alternative.
The PIDT will present their
assessment and recommended
alternative to the Resource
Management Interdisciplinary
Team (RMIDT) and they in
turn release the assessment for
public review. Following a 30-day
review, RMIDT approves one
of the alternatives and attaches
a decision document to the
project assessment, which is then
forwarded to the BIA superin
tendent for concurrence. Tribal
member comments are accepted
throughout the process at the
main office of the Forestry
science adviser for NOAA Fish
eries, said from Washington that
the survey represented about six
percent of the nearly 2,000 sci
entists at the agency, and prima
rily represented the views of
low-level staff who evaluate the
work of others to develop man
agement policy, not research
scientists. Murawski would not
say there was no political influ
ence over science at the agency
but said science is the founda
tion of policy decisions that
must take into account social
and economic factors.
"To say it is politicized is a
cheap shot, really," he said.
"These are complex decisions,
and many times people don't like
the outcomes for one reason or
the other."
Schulz said one of the inspi
rations for the survey was a re
cent case where NOAA Fisher
ies adopted a policy that counts
some hatchery salmon and wild
salmon together when assessing
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urban interface area.
Branch.
The entire process and all
management activities related to
the forested area must adhere
to goals, standards and best
management practices adopted
under the Integrated Resources
Management Plan (1RMP) for
the Forested Area. The plan is
reviewed and updated every five
years.
The 2005 WUI project is
being proposed to reduce the
threat of catastrophic fire on
communities and rural home
sites in the planning areas. Treat
ment costs arc offset through
federal funding under the Wild
land Urban Interface program.
Some of the harvested trees
will be chipped to provide hogg
their status as endangered spe
cies. The policy was adopted
despite advice from the Salmon
Recovery Science Review Panel,
made up of independent scien
tists, that they should adopt rules
to keep hatchery and wild fish
separate.
At the time, NOAA Fisher
ies Northwest Regional Admin
istrator Bob Lohn said the
hatchery policy was guided by a
federal court ruling and staff
scientists. Robert T. Paine, pro
fessor emeritus of biology at the
University of Washington
served as chairman of the re
view panel. I le said from Seatde
that NOAA Fisheries rejected
the first part of their report
when they saw it dealt with the
2001 ruling by U.S. District
Judge Michael Ilogan that the
fisheries agency could not give
Endangered Species Act protec
tion just to wild fish if it had
previously lumped hatchery fish
into the same population.
fuel for the Warm Springs For
est Products Industries boiler. A
subcontractor capable of per
forming the job, which is bid by
the mill, will do the chipping.
This work is currently being
done by Van Meter Ag.
Forest I lealth
There was a great deal of
interest in pine beetles and their
impact on the forest, and tribal
members wanted to know if
cutting trees actually attracts the
beetles. The Ips (pine engraver)
insect will bore into recently cut
low-elevation pine trees in the
spring and summer to lay eggs.
The adult insects bore out and
move into green trees, girdling
and killing them. Cutting and
chipping in the summer and fall
should prevent the insects from
going into the young pine stands.
In regards to the size of trees
being taken for chips, the silvi
culturist noted there has been
an increase in the number of
small trees over the past few
decades, in part because the fires
that once thinned these stands
arc now being suppressed. Un
der the WUI project, trees up
to 1 1 inches in diameter will be
removed to provide space for
the remaining trees to grow. This
treatment will reduce the risk of
catastrophic fire and more
closely mimic a natural setting.
Jobs will be created as a re
sult of these projects. While the
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chipping operation, which re
quires special equipment, may
be awarded to an outside con
tractor, there will be jobs for
tribal members. Hand felling
juniper, clipping ponderosa pine,
and jobs at the mill boiler will
go primarily to tribal members.
One tribal member said the
pine ground had been harvested
too extensively in the past and
he wanted to know what was
planned for this area in the
months ahead. The most recent
edition of 1RMP provides an
average allowable cut of up to
2.5 million board feet per year
from the pine ground. Treat
ments in this area call for thin
ning of overstocked stands, and
harvests that target insect or
disease control, as prescribed in
the Forest Management Imple
mentation Plan.
A number of concerns were
raised regarding the threat of
fire in juniper woodlands and in
timber stands near the commu
nity such as lower Shitike Can
yon. Areas being treated for ju
niper removal will not be re
planted, so the threat of cata
strophic fire will be reduced. Any
restocking of juniper will occur
through natural regeneration.
(Note: This article will con
clude in the next edition of the
Spilyay.)
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