National Forests

[Ron Scott]

2012 Capitol Christmas Tree

Following a three-week journey from Colorado's White River National Forest, this year's Capitol Christmas Tree has arrived in Washington, D.C.  It is now being decorated with lights and handmade ornaments from Colorado after being placed on the Capitol Building West Lawn. 
The 2012 Capitol Christmas Tree  will be celebrated at several events the week of Dec. 3.  The first celebration will be at the National Museum of the American Indian the morning of Dec. 3 and will include Forest Service leadership and the Ute Tribe of Colorado.  On Dec. 4, the Chief's office will host the annual Capitol Christmas Tree program and reception at 2:00 p.m. in USDA's Whitten Building Patio.  The tree-lighting ceremony will be broadcast on C-SPAN, on December 4; and a congressional reception will be held that evening.

The Chief's Newsletter

[Ron Scott]

US Forest Service Chief Says Timber Harvest Must Increase

Capital Press.com (December 4) - Representatives of Idaho's forest industry reacted positively to US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell's announcement that timber harvest on federal land would increase by 20 percent over the next couple of years.

Tidwell told members of Boise's City Club Nov. 30 that this year's severe wildfire season is an example of why it's critical to restore forest health by clearing out some of the fuel that is leading to much bigger wildfires.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Nantahala, Pisgah National Forests Undergo Three-Year Revision to Management Plans, Public Comment Sought

High Country Press (January 7) - The US Forest Service is revising the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests Land and Resource Management Plan, which will guide management of the forests for the next 15 years.

The revision is a three-phase process that will occur over a three- to four-year period and will be monitored until the next plan revision. It begins with the one-year assessment phase, where the National Forest Service will collect and compile data and other information about the current state of Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. The planning phase will take two to three years to complete.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

White Mountain National Forest to be featured on new quarter

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2013—The Forest Service announced today that the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire has been included in the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The White Mountain National Forest coin depicts Mount Chocorua, the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range, framed by birch trees.

The Chief's Newsletter

[Ron Scott]

Forest Service Plans Big Cedar Planting Project

Associated Press (February 18) — The US Forest Service is planning a big cedar planting project for Alaska's Prince of Wales Island.

The 700-acre project is scheduled to take place over the summer, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.

At 100 yellow cedars per acre, the Forest Service will be planting about 70,000 trees.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Monster goldfish population could pose threat to Lake Tahoe

A monster goldfish weighing 4.2 pounds and 17 inches long was recently found in Lake Tahoe.  A further discovery of over a dozen other goldfish in the lake suggests that they are schooling and spawning. Researchers are concerned that a growth in the population of monster goldfish could pose a significant threat to native species in the lake and contribute to the rapidly decreasing clarity of Lake Tahoe waters.

The Chief's Newsletter

[Ron Scott]

Timber Theft

A federal court judge is attempting to determine the value of something that maybe somewhat priceless: tree stolen from the Olympic National Forest in Washington State.  Some of the trees are "old growth" Douglas Fir that started their lives about the time of America's Revolutionary and measured six feet across. Other trees include large maples valued for intricately patterned wood used in musical instruments and cedar used for shingles, shakes and rot resistant construction.

According to the US Attorney's Office, Reid Johnson, the son of a prominent pioneer family on the Olympic Peninsula was convicted of the theft. Johnson was sentenced in December of 2012 to a year in federal prison for stealing more than one hundred trees. He now faces a hearing to determine the amount of restitution he must pay.  Matthew Diggs, an Assistant US Attorney who prosecuted the case said, "The fact is you can't replace with a dollar amount a 300 year old tree. It's like taking an antiquity." However, at the hearing experts will try to place both an economic and ecological value on the stolen trees. 

Despite the guilty plea, Johnson maintains the trees were on family property, not National Forest land. A land survey proved the trees were on national forest land. Johnson also claims theft of trees is rampant in the State of Washington, where thousands of dollars can be earned in less than an hour's work. He said, "This kind of theft is never going to change. There's plenty of wood on the National Forests and places they can steal."

Law enforcement authorities from the state and federal agencies agree theft of everything from leafy seal plants to huge timber is an increasing problem. Attorney Diggs wrote in a court document, "Theft and damage to forest products have reached near epidemic proportions on public lands." U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Anne Minden commented that it is impossible to say for sure how much timber is stolen.

The Lookout

[OneWithWood]

It does not surprise me that timber theft is rampant with such light sentencing.

[Ron Scott]

Some Local History

http://www.cadillacnews.com/news_story/?story_id=1806496&year=2013&issue=20130307&fb_action_ids=10151490869532162&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151490869532162%22%3A432721023476118%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151490869532162%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

[wmrussel]

Next to sourwood, sweetgum is my favorite leaf to chew in the woods.  Any other good leaves out there?

[Ron Scott]

Group Sues to Stop Hebgen Timber Sale

Bozeman Daily Chronicle.com (March 21) - The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Native Ecosystems Council have filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Missoula to stop the Forest Service from moving forward on its Lonesome Wood II Timber Sale.

The area covered by the timber sale is along the western and southern shores of Hebgen Lake. The Forest Service initiated the project, saying logging would safeguard area cabins from wildfires.

The environmental groups claim the old-growth areas are habitat for lynx, grizzly bears, and wolverines.

The E-Forester

[OneWithWood]

and so it goes...

[Ron Scott]

R10: First mushroom publication released to the public

The Alaska Region published the first Forest Service mushroom guide. Mushrooms are plentiful in the coastal temperate rainforests of Alaska and serve a critical ecological and cultural role. "Mushrooms in the National Forests of Alaska" is now in hardcopy and online.

Chief's Newsletter

[Ron Scott]

Lack of Timber Challenges Area Sawmill

MT Standard.com (April 7) - Sherm Anderson, the owner and chief executive officer of Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge, Montana, says that the lack of available timber is big challenge for his company, and he blames a part of the problem on the US Forest Service, which owns 70 percent of the timber in Montana on 17,048,125 acres, but supplies only 5 percent of the harvest.

According to the Forest Service website, from the 1960s through 1980s, the national forest timber harvest in the country averaged about 10 billion board feet per year. After environmental groups won a series of lawsuits in the 1980s and 1990s for more habitat protection for threatened, endangered, and sensitive species, the Forest Service timber harvest plunged to about two billion board feet per year.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

USDA Does About-Face, Won't Jettison Forest Service's Shield Logo

Yakima Herald.com (April 9) - A plan to drop a recognizable logo in this part of the country-the Forest Service's iconic shield-generated so much outrage among the agency's retirees that the idea has been dropped.

In early January, the US Department of Agriculture quietly introduced a policy to phase out all of its subagencies' logos, including the Forest Service's, and replace them with the USDA symbol.

But that policy was kept so under wraps that not even Pacific Northwest forest supervisors were told. Some of them only heard about it in retrospect late last week-after the USDA had decided, in light of the virulent opposition from the Forest Service's "Old Smokies" retiree group, to keep the service's shield logo intact.

The E-Forester

[beenthere]

Lack of Timber Challenges Area Sawmill

High time some counter-suits come in to action, to counter the post-card suits the enviro's have used for 50 years to halt tree cutting.
Albeit, one of the problems is that the USFS is infiltrated with the 'ologists to the point they are as much to blame for taking away the "forest management for wood" objectives. Many want to turn all the National Forests over to the Park Service, which may be the underlying motivation for doing away with the USFS shield.
And still others want all of the Forests turned into Wilderness status.
Just my opinion...

[Martha White Nelson]

I hope the poor horse from Routt NF is still doing well.

[Ron Scott]

Wilderness Packer Program

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEH2emt4s9g&feature=youtu.be

[Ron Scott]

Group Files Suit to Halt Timber Sale on Lewis and Clark National Forest

Helena Independent Record.com (March 1) - The Alliance for the Wild Rockies has filed suit in US District Court in Great Falls, to stop the US Forest Service's Blankenship Vegetation Treatment Project near Monarch, over concerns for Canadian lynx, goshawk, and wolverines.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Oregon Environmental Group Opposes Timber Sale

Capitalpress.com (March 10) - A 2,000-acre thinning project in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest has come under fire from environmentalists who argue it will destabilize erosion-prone soils.

Bark, an environmental group, asked a federal judge in Portland on March 7 to overturn the US Forest Service's approval of the Jazz timber sale.

Bark's allegations were countered by attorneys for the Forest Service and Interfor, a wood-products company that seeks to process logs from the Jazz timber sale at its sawmill in Molalla, Oregon, who said the project would improve forest health and bolster the local economy.

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Sad Day for USFS Law Enforcement

Region 8: Memorial services held for slain law enforcement officer and K-9 partner

On March 17, services were held in Marion, N.C., to commemorate Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Jason Crisp and his K-9 partner, both killed in the line of duty March 12 while pursuing a suspect in Burke County, N.C. Several hundred Forest Service employees and thousands of law enforcement officers from across the nation joined together to honor this officer's outstanding service, and express condolences to Crisp's wife and two children.

http://www.wbtv.com/story/24955275/two-people-found-dead-in-burke-co-home-police-looking-for-son

The Chief's Newsletter

[Ron Scott]

The full length (27 minute) movie "Untrammeled" recognizing the 50th Anniversary of designated Wilderness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krtp5gFvixc&feature=youtu.be

[pappy19]

One thing about it, if most of the old timber management areas were turned over to the states, there wouldn't be the rash of stamped letters from some enviro groups stopping good forest management. The affected states might even have to hire real foresters and not ecologists or habitat specialists.

[Ron Scott]

Redwood Poaching Spreads to National Forests

Columbian.com (June 15) - The poaching of knobby growths on ancient redwood trees has spread to national forests in northern California and Oregon.

The growths, known as burls, appear at the base of redwood trees, where they send out sprouts. Their intricate grain is prized for furniture and decorations.

The poaching has been a problem in northern California's Redwood National and State Parks for years. Two men recently were convicted in a case there after rangers tracked slabs cut from a tree by chain saw to a redwood burl shop.

More:

"Burl Poaching" Damaging Oregon's Last Redwood Groves

Statesman Journal.com (June 12) - Damage to old-growth redwoods through a practice known as "burl poaching"-the cutting off knotty growths key to the tree's ability to reproduce and protect itself from disease-is apparently impacting groves of the world's tallest trees in southwest Oregon.

But according to the environmental group Oregon Wild, the practice has moved north and is impacting one of the last remaining old-growth redwood groves on Oregon soil, southeast of Brookings in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The E-Forester

[SPIKER]

...

... through a practice known as "burl poaching"-the cutting off knotty growths key to the tree's ability to reproduce ...

The E-Forester

Must be the Male Trees loosing their "BURLS" as that is how to keep dogs from re-producing :D : :   Sorry had to add my 2 cents to the story... ;)

Mark