-- [ From: Martin J. Desmond * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
A joint federal/state/private effort is underway in the Pacific Northwest to
develop an economically and environmentally feasible manner to harvest small
logs. As many of you are aware, the Pacific Northwest USA has been wracked
with issues regarding harvesting levels and the cutting of old growth
forests.
An ad hoc group has been meeting since October 1995 to identify and develop
a number of sites on Forest Service and BLM lands for small log utilization.
The group has been working through a number of issues including:
Which sites are economically feasible
Can the government contract out marking of trees
Should the small logs be sold through a timber sale or offered as a service
contract
What types of watershed monitoring is appropriate
What is the feasibility of selling small logs through sort yards
Can salvage sale funds be used to pay for small log sales
What training is needed to forestry workforce development
There are several hundreds of thousands of acres of emerging young stands on
public lands in the 20 to 30 year age class in the Pacific Northwets.
Several of the key objectives of this ad hoc group are to generate forestry
jobs; improve the stand characteristics; and provide wood fiber supply.
The ad hoc group consists of contractors from the Northwest Reforestation
Contractors Association and representatives from the US Forest Service,
Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State University School of Forestry,
Weyerhaeuser, Oregon Economic Development Department, Pacific Rivers Council
, and Labor Education Research Center.
The group hopes to be able to proceed with a couple of projects by the start
of the summer. Information that is learned on these projects will hopefully
be replicated throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Minutes of the meetings are available by pointing your Web browser to http:
//www.forestnet.com and then selecting Salvage logging.
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