Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1979)
" ' - 'i-' ' The Heppner Conservationists look toCongress W H for help in preserving areas SKCTIO.N H Thursday April 2G, 1979 A Conservationist's View of RARE II and Heppner L nit Roadless Areas A- Rare II (Roadless Area Review and Evaluation), the Forest Service's on-going dec ision making process which began in the summer of 1977 is now coming to an end with recommendations from state and federal agencies; gover nors of states involved; and various environmental organi zations, now being submitted to Congress who makes the final decision. Past Oregon Governor Bob Straub had his sights set on a recommendation of over 700,000 acres in the State of Oregon. Even though this was far less than what environ mentalists considered fair, it has come to be a far greater recommendation than the 380,000 acres recommended 6y the Forest Service and many times more generous than the 61,000 acres recom mended by the wood products industry and Governor Victor Atiyeh in February 1979. Conservationists are hot and angry about these latter recommendations. Rare II has been a grass-roots conser vation effort from the begin ning. The job of roadless area inventory was to be done by the Forest Service, but instead it took dedicated conservat ionists to accomplish the job which the Forest Service began under direction of Asst. Secretary of Agriculture Rupert Cutler. The Rare II decision is now in the hands of the 96th Congress, which will begin the job of trying to analyze the greatest public effort ever made in the name of conservation in the history of this country. Because of the enormous amount of data to evaluate and continued rec ommendations from conser vationists. Congress will make few sudden, quick releases of land from the areas inventor ied. Following is an overview of roadless areas and their potentials that lie within the Heppner unit of the Umatilla National Forest. Wapiti is the Shoshone Indian name for our American elk and the Wapiti wilderness is just exactly what it means; "A wilderness for the elk." Of six sub-species of elk which were native to North America only four remain today. The two species which are extinct are the Merriam's Elk and Eastern Elk, natives of the plains states and Appalachain Mountains area. Why are they extinct today? Being constantly in conflict with man's conquest of their habitat they soon became a bygone resource, caused by both hunting and habitat loss. Todays populations of elk which are indigenous (native) species exists only in areas of habitat which have not been lost to human habitation and development. The most popu lous of these species by far is the Rocky Moutain elk found in the Blue Mountains. The Wapiti Wilderness is a complex of six small roadless islands of land totally sur rounded by over a thousand miles of road and land being intensively managed for tim ber and livestock grazing. A population of about 4,000 elk use the roadless complex for summer and winter habitat. Being isolated individual areas, elk use habitat outside the roadless areas as they, move from winter to summer range and as they use their habitat on a daily basis. The real value of these roadless areas for the elk comes during times of stress; hunting, winter, and during the sum mer and fall calving and breeding periods. Natural habits of the elk make them extremely depen dent on these last threads of habitat strategically located in a 220 square mile area known as the Heppner Plan ning NUnit. Two Ranger Dist ricts of the Umatilla National Forest are involved in the Planning Unit; the entire Heppner Ranger District and that portion of the Ukiah District lying west of U.S. Highway 395. The wilderness complex lies predominately in the Heppner District with two areas on the border of the Ukiah District. - What is very unique about this complex is that three of the six areas Hells Half Acre, Texas Butte and Kelly Prairie com prise most of the lands used as summer range and three areas Potamus, Skookum and Bologna Basin are land used as winter range. What happens is the elk use about half of the proposed wilder ness complex for six to seven months in the summer and the other half for about five months during the winter. Summer range then would be expressed as the Summer-Fall Range and the winter range as the Winter-Spring range, to be more accurate. Secondly unique is the fact that summer and winter range areas in the complex lie North and South of each other with a relatively short distance sep arating summer and winter habitat. Thirdly unique is that only 48,992 acres, 76 square miles is involved and is used by about 3,000 of the 4,000 elk which inhabit the area. , This area includes 17 land types; ranges from 2,800 ft. to nearly 6000 ft. and includes plant communities ranging from open bunch grass through juniper and sage to Ponderosa Pine and on up to climax fir, spruce and lodge pole Pine. The latter group dominates much of three roadless areas: Hells Half Acre, Kelly Prairie and Texas Butte. Fourthly unique is that there is .nothing in the way of management which will im prove these areas for the elk ; the herds are making maxi mum use of the areas. The preferred habitat demanded by elk not found anywhere else in unit. 1. elevation, 2. timber types, 3. soils, 4. tempera tures, 5. Overall plant com munity type (ecosystems), 6. Most important solitude, hiding cover, escapement from human harrassment. These areas are all that remain for the elk; it's up to you to do something about the problem ! Fifthly unique is that the main drainages of the unit all head within or flow through the wilderness complex and that the remaining wild ana dromousfish (steelhead) hab itat is dependent on these areas. Sixth and most unique is that because of natural habi tat diversity all wildlife species found in the Heppner Planning Unit are found here and that the oldgrowth forest which remains supports popu lations of species which are dependent on this plant com munity type or are dominately found within only the wilder ness complex! This wilderness complex is readily accessible to all people, young and old and has values which if lost by other forest uses will be lost forever and will cause many impacts on the local communities which will greatly change peoples lives. To make more clear why this area should be wilder ness, this data from the Heppner Land Use Plan and that which I have put together and collected from experience (on the ground knowledge) and help from" other conser vationists; many of them professional resource people in the fields of wildlife and timber management; will help explain why wilderness management is important! Before a land use plan can be implemented or even put together the land use planner must know the different kinds and potentials of the resources which arc being managed. This data has been compiled by identifying the different landtypes which exist in the unit. , As described by the Forest Service in the Heppner Land Use Plan, "A landtype is a unit of land identified on the basis of simalarities in condi tions of vegetation type, iandforms, soil, slope (and its aspect) and geology. A land type is thus a relatively (but not pure) homogeneous land area with similar capabilities and responses to management activities. The various resources are referred 'o as being commod ity or ammenity. A commod ity resource is something which has a value, this is a dollar value; example, tim ber, minerals, forage (grass) etc. An ammenity resource is one of which no set value can be placed on such wildlife for viewing, scenic or historic values and many other re sources contributing to rec reation and scientific values of which there is no set value placed upon. Many of these values or resources are im portant for the experiences which they provide the public ! There are 25 landtypes in this unit of 271.155 acres (424 square miles). The average timber productivity for the entire unit is 37.7 cubic feet, or (190) board feet per acre per year. Sixteen land types are not capable of producing 50 cubic feet and total 210.660 acres and 77 per cent of the unit. Nine landtypes produce greater than 50 cubic feet per acre per year, and total 60,450 acres and 23 per cent of the unit. The average productivity of those landtypes below 50 cubic feet is 22.2 cubic feet and they range from 1.4 to 48.5 cubic feet. Those landtypes which produce over 50 cubic feet average 65.2 cubic feet (327). board feet and range from 53.6 to 90 cubic feet. Forest land natives The National Forest Man agement Act of 1976 requires the Forest Service to Iden tify lands which ore not suited . for limber production, consid ering physical, economic and other pertinant factors to the extent feasible and shall in sure that, except for salvage sales or sales necessitated to protect other multiple use values, no timber harvesting shall occur on such lands for a period of ten years. At present lauds which have a capability of twenty cubic feet per acre per year are considered commercial forest land. Here is where the problem lies. 20 cubic feet is now considered the minimum productivity for commercial forests but most professional foresters also beHeve that any timber stands producing less than 50 cubic feet are not really considered profitable to manage. With 77 per cent of the Heppner Unit producing less than 50 cubic feet the public should be very concern ed about what is actually happening out there on the forest. It's yours, don't forget ! It is the intent of the 1976 Forest Management Act to withdraw all marginal lands which are not suitable for timber management, includ ing the physical aspects of the land as well. It is quite clear that a much more restrictive definition is needed for what is actually commercial forest land, based on all consider ations including most of all the cost benefit ratio! The fact that roadless lands being studied or inventoried for wilderness contain stands of commercial timber, has been the dominate objection against wilderness manage ment. What the public needs to consider here is future gener ations; their rights and oppor tunities as stated in the Muliple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 and the Wilderness Management Act of 1964 as The majestic Rocky Moutain Elk and (heat Gray Owl are two wildlife species conservationists say are dependent on old-growth timber and dense ground cover At present between :?.rii()-4.0()() elk range in the Blue Mountains surrounding Heppner and the owl pictured here is one of four known recorded nests in Oregon, located in the Swale Creek area of the Texas Butte roadless area. Other wildlif e species conserv ationists fear losing if all roadless areas are logged include: cougar, bobcat. Black bear, Pine Marten, trophy buck Mule deer, flying squirrel, Prairie falcon. Fileated woodpecker, Goshawk. Merriam turkey. Golden and Bald eagle and sleelhel I By Beryl Stillman State Proiect Manager Klk Foundation Assn. : - j- , -;- U ' - . ; V 7W r.z ?- - . ' ' ' --, ' r.. - . . - i '". . - . , J designated by Congress! ia "Multiple use" means: The management of all the various renewable surface resources of the national Crests so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people; making the most judicious use of the land for some or all of fhi'se resources or related serviccsover areas large enough to "provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjust ments in use to conform, to changing needs and condi tions; that some land will be .':V .v,J.. m-iui . '- It 3L , " ' -HA K stmrt tZ .t- ( J ' ) used for less than all of the resources; and harmonious and coordinated man, emont of the various resources each with the other, without impair ment of the productivity 'it the land, with consideration being given to the relative values of the various resources, and not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output. (b) "Sustained yield of the several products and ser vices" means the achieve ment and maintenance in perpetuity of a high level I 1 r Vi - i ' 1 ' m 1 v - annual or regular periodic output of the various renew able resources of the National 'uresis uilliout impairment ul the productivity ol the land. From the. Wilderness Man agement Act Section 2 (a) In order to assure that an increasing population, ac companied by expanding set tlement and growing mechani zation, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its posses sions, leaving no lands desig nated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby de clared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and t ut lire generations the benelils of an enduring re source ul wilderness. For this r '4 X. I ? - ? ftp Cwy Before, Conservationists fear that maor wildlife species depen dent on old growth timber and roadless areas will sutler if some areas aren t preserved. At right is the Forest Service's Wickiup sale before logging, showing heavy ground cover, thick lorest and old-growth timber. ...and after The same Wickiup sale area alter logging and commercial thinning operations show what conservationists term "a manicured lloor. Logging removes thermal cover, snags and old-growth timber used by inanv wildble species purpose there is hereby estab lished a National Wilderness Preservation System to bo composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as "wilderness areas' . and these shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so provide for protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoy ment as wilderness; and no federal lands shall be desig nated as "wilderness areas" except as provided for in this Act or by a subsequent Act.
