The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, May 3, 1979-FIVE
Elk Foundation conservationist says...
ging of roadle areas not econooiica.
By BERYL STILLMAN
State Project Manager
Elk Foundation Assn.
Log
According to the Forest
Incentives Program admin
istered by the U.S. Forest
Service, land eligible for
financial assistance is re
quired to grow at least 50
cubic feet per acre per year;
that is if reforestation is to be
provided on those lands.
The Office of Management
and Budget requires that a 10
per cent capitalization rate
must be applied to all budget
. ary expenditures. That is a 10
per cent return per year over
the life of the expenditures.
There are five alternatives
proposed in the Heppner Land
Use Plan (Draft) and all five
alternatives lose the taxpayer
money.
According to table 12 on
page 154, the Forest Service is
now investing $2,023,263.00 to
harvest 34 million board feet
of timber on the planning unit;
a cost of $59.50 per thousand
board feet. Our return on this
investment is $1,556,576.00,
earning the U.S. $46.00 per
thousand board feet. For each
thousand board feet of timber
sold the U.S. loses $13.50 on the
Heppner District.
Alternative E, the preferred
alternative by the Forest
Service, proposes to harvest
39.3 million of timber at an
estimated cost of $2,385,513.00,
or $60 per thousand board feet.
Estimates show our return on
this investment will be
$1,803,384.00 or $45.88 per
thousand board feet repre
senting a loss under Alterna
tive E of $14.12 per thousand
board feet harvested.
As currently proposed, man
agement of this planning unit
under Alternative E loses 23
cents for each dollar invested
each year.
In conclusion, the timber
resources in the roadless
areas on the Heppner District
is currently uneconomical to
manage as proposed.
Why is this? Why should the
public lands be sold for
timber, facing ruin of elk
herds and destruction of water
sheds for a loss economically?
Why does every alternative
the Forest Service propose
have to lose money?
Under Alternative E, the
Forest Service proposes to
build 446 miles of new road.
This represents an investment
of $10,258,000 (estimated from
an average of $23,000.00 per
mile). At an assumed project
longevity of 20 years this
represents a $512,900. per year
investment in new road con
struction. It seems to make
more sense investing money
on more economic lands
rather than logging and road
building in these last roadless
areas, and in the process
maintain present elk herds
while putting what is actually
tax dollars to work on better
management of what the
Forest Service has already
managed.
Saturday, May 5
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
575 Gale St.-Ileppner
Lots of goods and
gocdiQS for
a good cause I
By The IIHS Spanish Club
This Message Sponsored By
i AN K OF
jEastern Oregon
Haoonar-kxie-ArlingKHi v
Member: Federal Deposit
Developing, roading and
harvesting the Heppner Dist-
Roadless area costbenefit compared
Roadless Area Annual Harvest Benefit Road Cost Return to Taxpayer
Kelly Prairie
Texas Butte
Hells Half Acre
Potamus
Spookum
Bologna Basin
2.2mmbf
4.1 mmbf
0.9mmbf
0.4 mmbf
0.4 mmbf
0.2 mmbf
Proposed Wapiti Wilderness consisting
of 6 roadless areas in the Heppner Unit
GILLIAM
COUNTY.
V II
Good
An organizational meeting
for a Southern Morrow County
Heppner Elks
358
MEXICAN
FEED
scheduled for
this weekend
has been
cancelled.
Stop in for
regular dining!
Insurance Corporation
"Me ri. , - f " - : m-VV.-. skookum : . i i ,;
r wheeler jrJ' )y'4i f ' "V I ' K
mi IMTY t-r tkSS : . - . RARE II INVENTORIED
' y J JJfSSS ' '" ' 1 W ROADLESS AREAS
JaeSPRAY 1 'Bffir, -, ; L T7- : U
rffK---' J J BOLOGNA BASIN V' 1 : ; ! GRANT COUNTY'
.V v' 1f;:.. i . " f v ' - r:
.h : . j : v. 1 ,
s . .. .": i Vi t N - ' ' ' t ' ' Vi : 'Sf i-r
rict roadless areas will result
in a net loss of $159,484.00 per
$100,936.00
$188,108.00
$41,292.00
$18,352.00
$18,352.00
$9,176.00
$132,000.00
$246,000.00
$54,000.00
$24,000.00
$67,700.00
$12,000.00
Sam Club to form
Good Samaritan RV Club is
set for Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30
p.m., West of Willow Restau
rant. Good Sam clubs across the
nation provide a tie for
recreational vehicle travelers
and local chapters often form
&
tMLl-,: MORROW COU NTY UMATILLA L:
HEPPNER. ."S . x ,'.'V COUNTY ;
irVS I' : " ;V TEXAS BUTTE nfii IfS-s- . - V' -F
f.:tHARDMAN, . I : SW'V'-1 Ek.
mm you
tS IT
I5C a month!
lpiTHERMAcSlSffl ?
Buy a Boise Cascade THERMA 2000 home
between April 1 and June 15 and mail us
your winter heating bills. We'll pay them,
for the price of a stamp.
Why? Because our THERMA 2000 homes
save energy 16 ways. You'll save big money
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Ask us about our new exterior designs
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We're Authorized Dealers For
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And We Want To Know You Better
CL0UGH HOMES
Condon Hwy .-Arlington
454-2795
year to the Forest Service and
ultimately the taxpayer.
$31,064.00 Loss
$57,892.00 Loss
$12,708.00 Loss
$5,648.00 Loss
$49,348.00 Loss
$2,824.00 Loss
here
monthly caravans for group
-trips.
Don Clark of La Grande,
Good Sam regional director,
will be at the meeting to
explain the purpose and goals
of the club. The public is
invited to attend.
3
mi;
i
!
A
'4
3
l
8
ALT. E Heppner Land Use
Plan (Draft)
If implemented would have
these impacts on soil and
water:
Soil 45.7 acre feet of sedi
ment (erosion) as compared
to 32.4 acre feet if roadless
areas are managed as wilder
ness. Water Alt. E will produce
290,000 acre feet, plus sedi
mentation would be extreme,
would cause severe impact on
existing anadromous fish hab
itat (steelhead). With wilder
ness management 281,000 acre
feet, 9,700 acre feet less than
Alt. E, but would maintain
existing anadromous fishery's
and protect critical soils from
erosion.
Elk Oldgrowth-Watersheds
Found within the 367 pages
of the Heppner Land Use Plan
(Draft), these three resources
are only vaguely discussed
and their value is not empha
sized as important.
This land use plan as
presented would be almost
totally non-understandable
and misleading to the layman,
after this writer has waded
through nine of these docu
ments reviewing their con
tents. What makes this plan mis
leading and hard reading?
The fact that the Forest
Service has based the major
ity of this plan on computer
readouts, (coefficients) which
refer to the amount of, or
consequence of, a resource or
use that can be expected from
one acre of land in one year
under a certain management
prescription. The coefficients
are based on data put into the
computer that pertain to the
individual landtype and its
potential productivity, based
on research of the landtypes
potential.
ESLE
Preferred alternative impact questioned
The problem is the data is
very general in scope and does
not deal with site-specific
detail or actual facts of the
individual acres of land on the
unit. Because of this, the
Forest Service usually por
tray's an overly optimistic
attitude towards the concerns
of cniiM'ivationists who are
dealing with the site-specific
facts of individual acres and
not just a general attitude
about the area being man
aged. The second problem with
the land use planning process
and Rare II has been the time
frame involved, which was
insufficient and has not allow
ed various user groups to
actually work together and
more openly discuss their
concern.
In an interview in La
Grande, Oregon with the
Observer, Asst Secretary of
Agriculture Rupert Cutler,
stated, "The department
wants to move away from the
polarization of industry and
wilderness advocates. We
want all people whether their
interest is wildlife, forage,
water, mining or wilderness,
to be sitting around the same
table. We want them looking
at the maps and pointing out
their special areas of concern.
A major concern is getting
public involvement into the
wilderness review."
When Mr. Cutler said, "We
want them looking at the maps
and pointing out their special
areas of concern," he was
speaking about the site
specific concerns pertaining
to individual areas and acres
of land.
Let's now look at Alt. E, the
preferred alternative of the
Forest Service, and review the
land allocations.
Elk From pages 17-18 of
the draft land use plan it is
. t
Pecg&e with a cemmitnsst tojra.
6 is the effective annual
yield on our $100.00 minimum
deposit 90 day 5 savings certificate.
CENTER & MAIN
HOME OFFICE: PENDLETON
OTHER OFFICES: HERMISTON & MILTOM FREEWATER
stated, "Elk respond some
what differently to man's
activities in the Heppner
Planning Unit than in other
portions of the Umatilla
Forest. In most acres of the
forest, cover manipulation
achieved through timber har
vest benefits elk populations
on a majority of landtypes. In
the Heppner Unit, cover is
more limited than in other
portions of the forest. Cover
manipulation may still benefit
elk in the Heppner Unit, but
generally benefits occur on a
lower percentage of landtypes
and the magnitude of the
benefit is considerably less."
It has been this writer's
continued objection that tim
ber management within re
maining roadless areas will
have no benefit to the elk. My
objection is based on the
landtypes and elevations
found within the roadless
areas, and impacts on elk
which has occured outside the
roadless areas by the same
basic management plan.
Timber management has
had some very unfavorable
impacts on elk and with
Forest Service figures show better elk
population of 664 with management
Kelly Prairie
Wd
112
N-Wd
161
Texas Butte
Wd N-Wd
213 288
Hells Half Acre
Wd
40
N-Wd
51
...don't show current elk
population of 3,000
Cent, on page 8
ABO 1
THE 6 CASH BUYERS IDEA.
Here's how to really have
clout. Buy with cash instead of
credit. Put yourself in the great
position of being able to pay for
cars, vacations, or home
improvements in advance. And
save the high cost of credit.
Just set aside a little bit each
month and with the 6 cash
buyers idea, that little
investment will grow to a lot.
And give you a lot of peace of
mind.
For example, as little as $30.00
a week for 3 years
produces $5,236.00.
Talk to one of our savings
counselors today about this idea.
It's another great way to patch
up your investment portfolio.
HERITAGE
&
HERITAGE
sportsmen. A great deal of
concern was expressed by
local area sportsmen during
the early 70's when extensive
logging and roading was done
in the Dividewell through the
Gilman Ranch area of the
Ukiah District. Road density
here is about 6 miles of road
per square mile. The overall
road mile density is projected
at 3.1 miles per square mile in
Alt. E; that is 1,319 miles for
424 square miles of the
planning unit; a road every
1760 feet. One-hundred-eighty
miles or an average of 2.5
miles or road per square mile
is proposed for the roadless
areas.
To further illustrate the
value of the roadless areas the
following table shows what the
land use plan intends to
achieve by manipulation by
timber management.
The Forest Service, on page
89, Table 8 of the draft plan,
illustrates the potential re
source effects of wilderness
and nonwilderness manage
ment including the Forest
Service's figures showing
potential for elk.
Potamus
Wd N-Wd
34 35
Skookum
Wd
82
N-Wd
91
Bologna Basin
Wd
29
N-Wd
38
WEETERN
HERITAGE
OAVIHGS
WFSTtHX HEMWX FFOERAl
SMGS AMD UMN ASSOCIATKM
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