Steve Wilent

NAU pilot project tests exporting wood products via railway (and ship) to speed forest restoration

A pilot project at Camp Navajo has the potential to unlock a critical bottleneck in forest restoration and wildfire prevention efforts across northern Arizona by creating markets for restoration byproducts like wood chips from small-diameter trees.

The pilot project, led by Northern Arizona University, will test the logistics and efficacy of chipping and shipping wood products via railway transportation with the goal of expanding forest product markets domestically and internationally and accelerating forest restoration efforts.

“This collaboration is an opportunity to address forest health issues facing our region and create renewable sources of energy,” said NAU President Rita Cheng. “It is another example of the innovative ways our researchers are working together to solve critical issues facing our region, state and the world.”

The first phase of the project will take place at the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA) Camp Navajo Training Center over the course of eight days. It includes chipping 1,300 tons of small-diameter logs extracted from forest restoration projects like the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, which has struggled to find markets for the low-value wood removed from its thinning efforts. The wood chips will then be loaded onto 60 shipping containers bound for South Korea via railway and cargo ships.

An AP article viua Greenwire:

E&E News has an article today about a study in the American Ornithological Society’s journal The Condor: Ornithological Applications, which shows that “over the past 20 years, northern spotted owls have disappeared from half the areas they once occupied in Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park.”

“This study demonstrated that even when high-quality habitat was readily available, the presence of Barred Owls was negatively correlated with the dynamics of Spotted Owls,” the authors wrote.

“Barred Owls are now competing with Northern Spotted Owls for food and space, and increased Barred Owl densities are associated with declines in Northern Spotted Owl populations across their range,” said Katie Dugger, a co-author of the report and a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

…

“In 1994, a conservation plan covering the owls’ territory was put in place. Since then, the spotted owls in Mount Rainier have lived with no significant threat from logging, wildfires or other human-related dangers that may be present in other spots across the species’ range from California to British Columbia.

“Along with significant territorial changes, the authors found that the population of spotted owls in the Mount Rainier region appears to be shrinking. They wrote that the park contains “some of the oldest intact forest habitat available to Northern Spotted Owls in the Washington Cascade Range, yet only 18 adult owls were detected on the study area in 2016, down from a high of 30 owls in 1998.”

NY Times op-ed today: “Is the Forest Service Trying to Evade the Public?” by Sam Evans, National Forests and Parks Program Leader for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

“If the Forest Service has its way, visitors won’t know what’s coming until logging trucks show up at their favorite trailheads or a path for a gas pipeline is cleared below a scenic vista.”

That’s hyperbolic, to say the least.

Discussion?

Why reduce the number of PO’s?

USFS press release:

BLACKDUCK, MINNESOTA – August 1, 2019 – The Chippewa National Forest (Forest) is seeking comments on the Forest-Wide Permanent Opening Management Project.  To assure your comments are fully considered during this scoping phase of the project, we request that you submit comments by August 30, 2019.

The purpose of the project is to develop a management plan for the long-term maintenance and/or enhancement of high-quality permanent openings (POs).  These openings are areas of land managed in order to create and maintain a wildlife habitat of grass, low shrub, and/or herbaceous ground cover.  The project proposes to reduce the number of current PO’s from 4,103 to 513 and the managed acres from 7,313 to 1,223 across National Forest System lands within the Forest.  Management would focus on high-quality POs that would benefit the native flora, fauna, ecosystems, and processes endemic to the lands within the Forest boundaries.

To assure your comments are fully considered during this scoping phase of the project, we request that you submit comments by August 30, 2019.  Submit your comments electronically in a common file format (.doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .txt) to: [email protected] with the subject line “Permanent Opening Project.” Please include your name, address, telephone number, and the title of the project with your comments. OR Mail your comments to the Blackduck Ranger District Office, Attn: District Ranger, Karen Lessard, 417 Forestry Drive, Blackduck, MN 56630.  You can also submit your comments by fax to: (218) 835-3132.

For additional information about the public comment process or to receive a map of the project area, please contact Karen Lessard at: 218-835-4291 or [email protected].

A news article, “U.S. Forest Service announces massive RFP to clear out Arizona forests,” describes the RFP here, which has this aim: “At full production, awarded contracts will seek to mechanically thin between 605,000 and 818,000 acres over 20 years within six separate sub-areas located in portions of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Coconino National Forest, Kabab National Forest, and the Tonto National Forest.”

The agency notes that “This is one of the first times the Agency is using the recently authorized 20-year stewardship authority (from the 2018 Omnibus Bill).”

Lots of info from the agency, such as Examples of Desired Conditions after Mechanical Treatments, with images for:

All aged stand
Moderate Site
Savanna
Group Selection
Artificial Constraints
Variable Spacing Rx

A related article, “Conservation groups help pick up the slack in forest thinning,” says that “Environmentalists, conservation groups and local officials have all united behind the idea of thinning the forest to not only reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires, but improve conditions for wildlife.” Mention only the Wild Turkey Federation.

The article notes that a$1,000-per-acre subsidy, as for the White Mountain Stewardship project, “would cost about $2 billion to accelerate the thinning of the more than 2 million acres in the footprint of 4FRI.” Of course, not every acre needs treatments. But that offers a bit of perspective on the scale of the need.

Thanks to Nick Smith of Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities for the link to the article on the RFP.

An open-access article from the Journal of Forestry by Terry Jain, “The 21st Century Silviculturist.” With discussion by Connie Harrington and others. Worth a read and discussion here.

Introduction

As a discipline, silviculture has a long legacy of practitioners who mentored the next generation, passing their knowledge—and vision for the future—onward. For example, silviculturists in the northern Rocky Mountains such as Julies Larson, Irvine Haig, Chuck Wellner, and Russ Graham (Graham 2009) followed this mentoring process, leaving a legacy of knowledge and irreplaceable experiences that many others have been privileged to incorporate into their own careers. Along these lines, we offer this discussion. The unique opinions and perspectives of this group of silviculturists from across the United States are intended to contribute to the mentoring process by offering our thoughts on the promises and challenges facing 21st century silviculturists, beginning with my own insights concerning the future of our profession.

I happened to come across the 2018 annual report for the national forest in my neck of the woods, the Mount Hood. Here’s the financial info in the report. It’s interesting to compare the categories.

Anyone know where I might find out how much Congress (and R6) allocated to the Mount Hood?