Spilydy Tyrooo, W arm Springs, Oregon
O ctober 12, 2 0 0 6
Page 9
comment
B y B ill Rhoades
For the Spilyay
An interdisciplinary team
from the Forestry and Natural
Resources branches has been
collecting tribal member com
ments on a timber sale being
proposed for 2008 and other
ongoing projects involving tim
ber harvest.
Responses to a number of
comments and concerns are in
cluded with this article.
The Sugar Pine 2008 timber
sale will target approximately 13
million board feet of timber
primarily near Twin Buttes.
The harvest approximates
the annual allowable cut (recal
culated every five years) for this
planning unit, which is based on
long-term sustainability.
The process for planning this
sale officially began on August
1 when the project interdiscipli
nary team (PIDT) completed its
second and final scoping meet
ing with the tribal public. Meet
ings were held for Agency and
Seekseequa districts at Agency
Longhouse, and Simnasho Dis
trict at Simnasho Longhouse,
initiating the process to complete
a draft plan.
A slide show and maps were
used to identify potential treat
ment areas, which were de
scribed by project leader John
Arena and other members of
the technical staff. A field re
view of the proposed project
area, and other recent projects,
was conducted during the annual
Timber Tour on September 20.
The PIDT, which plans the
sale and makes presentations to
interested tribal members, is
comprised of individuals from
the Natural Resources and For
estry technical staffs and com
mittees. The team includes a fish
biologist, forester, wildlife ecolo
gist, hydrologist, fuels manager,
forest engineer, silviculturist,
archeologist, range conserva
tionist, soil scientist, writer/edi
tor, representatives from three
tribal committees, and a repre
sentative from Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries
(WSFPI).
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 sale, a strat
egy to monitor the sale after it
has been implemented, and miti
gation measures to offset nega
tive impacts. After considering
input from the tribal public, the
PIDT will develop at least two
action alternatives, each empha
sizing a balanced approach to '
resource management.
The team will present their
assessment and recommended
alternative to the Resource
Management Interdisciplinary
Team (RMIDT) this fall and
they in turn release the assess
ment for public review. Follow
ing a 30-day review, RMIDT
approves one of the alternatives
and attaches a decision docu
ment to the project assessment,
which is then forwarded to the
BIA superintendent for concur
rence. Tribal member comments
are accepted throughout the
process at the main office of
the Forestry 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 (IRMP) for
the Forested Area. The plan,
which strikes a balance between
resource utilization and protec
tion, is reviewed and updated
every five years.
The Sugar Pine 2008 timber
sale is being proposed because
it will generate revenue for the
Confederated Tribes. The size
and type of trees harvested will
determine the value of stump-
Bill Rhoades for the Spilyay
The Sugar Pine 2008 timber sale will address forest health
issues and generate income for the Confederated Tribes.
age. These sales are designed to
provide options for the WSFPI
mill by creating a pantry of tim
ber. Yearly harvests typically
meet the allowable annual cut
established by Tribal Council
and provide jobs for tribal log
gers and mill workers.
smaller than they used to be,
which results in lower quality
lumber. There are also fewer
trees being cut than there were
historically, so the mill operates
just one shift, processing 47
million board feet of logs and
producing 70 million board feet
of lumber.
Timber
The Sugar pine timber sale
is named after sugar pine trees
located prim arily on Twin
Buttes. The volume projected
from this sale is 13.1 million
board feet, which will be har
vested from throughout the
project area. There may be some
treatments in the ponderosa
pine ground mostly to thin over
stocked stands and reduce the
number of dwarf mistletoe-in
fected trees.
All of the harvested timber
will come from the commercial
forest. There are no plans to
harvest conditional use ground
under this sale, although there
is a fuel hazard in Whitewater
canyon.
There are several tree species
found in the area including
lodgepole pine, western white
pine and white fir. Lodgepole
pine is at the very western edge
of the sale area where frost is
common.
Western white pine and white
fir are found mostly in the cen
tral portion of the sale area.
White pine is susceptible to
mistletoe, but is considered
more resistant to diseases than
the white fir.
Dwarf mistletoe is a plant
whose spores enters the host tree
through its needles and devel
ops a root system in the tree’s
cambium. The prescription to
treat misteltoe is to eradicate the
plant through harvest or prun
ing. Spraying is not effective.
The quantity of timber cut
in any given year is determined
by the allowable cut, a volume
determined by calculating the
total growth of the forest. The
allowable cut is equal to the
forest’s annual growth. This cal
culation is the responsibility of
the Forestry Planning Depart
ment and their calculations are
presented to Tribal Council for
their approval. There is very
little information about what the
growth was 50-years ago. How
ever, forests of the past were
older and generally slower grow
ing.
Timeframes for entering wa
tersheds or forest planning units
were originally established as
once in a ten-year planning pe
riod. Entries depend on harvest
ing the projected volume. If the
projected volume is not har
vested during the first entry,
another sale will have to be
planned to get the remaining
volume.
There are research plots in
the sale area that were established
in 1984. Their purpose is to
determine the number and size
of trees needed to optimize
growth and value in the ponde
rosa pine ground.
The quality of trees being
harvested has changed some
what over the years. The logs
being processed today are
Cultural Resources
During the scoping process
there was a great deal of tribal
member interest in huckleber
ries and how they are being
managed. Ultimately, with any
federal undertaking on the res
ervation the federal agency, in
this case the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), has the responsi
bility to protect Traditional Cul
tural Properties (TCPs), such a's
a huckleberry patch.
In the case of a timber sale,
and in particular Pathfinder
Block No. 19 that tribal mem
bers have been talking about, it
is the responsibility of the fed
eral agency to ensure that all
contractors are aware of how
the contract should be con
ducted, including the removal
of all limbs, treetops and debris
from the immediate area dur
ing snow pack logging.
If the contactor does not
fulfill his or her obligation it is
up to the BIA to take the ap
propriate action. It is also the
responsibility of the federal
agency to rectify the situation.
This includes the removal of all
logging debris from the under
story as soon as possible so that
the Culture and Heritage Com
mittee can assess the site to de
termine it the plants will remain
viable or not. If it is determined
that too much damage has oc
curred to the huckleberry plants,
mitigation negotiations
will have
*
to take place to determine the
next steps.
The BIA needs to work
closely with the Culture and
Heritage Committee, Cultural
Resources Department, and the
Tribal Historic Preservation
Officer to ensure a speedy out
come. The annual Timber Tour
was scheduled in September, but
the site in question was not in
cluded on the agenda.
Regarding other impacts to
huckleberries, research has
shown that while huckleberry
plants are shade tolerant, berry
production is greatly reduced
when plants are shaded out by
a dense overstory. The removal
of part of the overstory, with
minimal huckleberry distur
bance, by logging over at least
two feet of snow, may be nec
essary for increased berry pro
duction.
when trees are healthy, but num addition to the undisturbed ar
bers increase when the trees get eas within habitat clumps. Hid
older and become stressed.
ing cover will be provided by the
The volume of merchantable abundant regeneration within the
trees salvaged under the Bad area.
ger Butte sale will be counted
In answer to a question re
against the allowable cut. How garding the analysis process and
ever, if the trees have decayed why public comment isn’t sought
and are no longer merchantable, for all salvage activies, it should
they will not be charged against be noted the Metolius Bench or
the cut.
Peter Springs Salvage was done
Burning will be avoided to under the categorical exclusion
minimize lodgepole pine regen process because it was a small
eration and fire damage or mor project and had to be completed
tality to leave trees such as the in a timely manner. IRMP guide-
hemlock and true fir. The goal *lines are used to determine
is to advance natural succession which process to follow and
in the area while reducing the RMIDT determines the extent
fuel loads that lead to explosive of project analysis.
wildfires.
The categorical exclusion
There will be some initial (CATX) process covers small
ground disturbance that is un projects that are not considered
avoidable, but a series of 2-8 significant enough to warrant a
acre habitat clumps will be left full project assessment (PA). The
to provide undisturbed vegeta CATX document is distributed
tion within the salvage area. for comment amongst natural
Designating skid trails and keep resources staff with copies pro
ing the trails away from leave vided to the various tribal com
settings will minimize potential mittees. If the natural resources
logging damage.
managers agree that project im
Approximately 40 to 50 per pacts are minimal, the proposal
cent of the tree cover will be and any attached mitigation goes
retained, because only species to RMIDT for their final de
affected by the bug kill are be termination. RMIDT decisions
ing harvested. Douglas-fir, hem are made public through the
lock and true fir will be left, in tribal newspaper
H azardous
Fuels
Recuction (HFR)/Wildland
Urban Interface (WUI)
Another treatment that has
drawn interest from the public
involves the thinning of over
stocked stands to reduce haz
ardous fuel loads and protection
of rural homesites and commu
nities through the Wildland Ur
ban Interface program. Some
of the trees are used for biom
ass, which produces electricity
through a cogeneration plant at
Warm Springs Forest Products
Industries. The HFR and WUI
projects are subsidized by fed
eral funding and that makes
them economically viable to
some degree.
There are costs for road
maintenance, cultural surveys,
monitoring and other activities
that must be considered when
tabulating the economics of bio
mass removal, but there are also
benefits, not the least of which
is a healthier forest.
(Note: comments regarding wild
life aspects o f the sale will he in the
next edition o f the paper.)
N ext deadline to
subm it item s to the
Spilyay Tymoo is
Friday, Oct. 20.
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915 SOUTH HWY 97, SUITE B
9
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Badger Butte Salvage
Dead trees and living lodge
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