Forest%20Management%20in%20the%20PNW

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Forest Management in the PNW

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A Simple Set of Periods

• Pre-European Era
• Early Exploration and Settlement
• Early Logging Activities
• The Onset of Industrialization
• World War II and the Korean War
• Recent History (post 1973)

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Pre-European Era

• Significant native American use of forests began
  after 10,000 years b.c.e. Or lt 25,000 years
  b.c.e.
• During ice age Siberian land bridge open but N.A.
  continent closed.
• At end of ice age bridge closed but continent
  opened ice-free corridor
• Or hopping between ice free areas, coastal
  navigation, etc.

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Coastal Route
Mackenzie Corridor
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Early Human Use of Forests

• Various Forest Products (salal, mushrooms, game,
  etc.)
• Extensive use of Cedar and related by-products in
  wet temperate forests
• Canoes
• Shelter
• Baskets
• Forest supported many species of importance (e.g.
  salmon) and vice versa

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Early Human Impacts on Forests

• Fire (Boyd, 1986)
• Clearing for Game (habitat, visual)
• Assisting plants of interest (huckleberry, camas)
• Reducing problem plants (blackberry)
• Increasing safe area around habitations
  (Security)
• Other similar uses
• Most other impacts relatively limited

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Early European Exploration

• Juan Josef Perez Hernandez 1774 (Juan de Fuca)
• James Cook 1778
• George Vancouver 1792 takes possession of PNW for
  England
• 1804 05 Lewis and Clark
• David Douglas (1826 28)

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Early European Settlement

• Willamette Valley an important draw (early
  1840s), settled before forested areas
• Puget Trough also settled before forested areas
• Valley bottoms of forested areas settled (often
  current in holdings in federal lands)
• Forest cleared for agriculture
• Initial European migrants were fur traders and
  explorers settlements were trading focused
• Impact(s) on forests limited (although beaver are
  considered a keystone species)

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Early Logging Activities

• Limited, local
• High grading (cedar, old growth Douglas fir)
• A major product was cedar shake shingles

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Limits to Early Forest Harvesting

• Access to markets (transport)
• Access to forest interior
• Distance to markets (most people on east coast)

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Impact of the California Gold Rush

• Sudden nearby demand for timber, lumber, and
  other materials (food, etc.) that required
  lumber.
• PNW Geography lowland forests near water (sound,
  rivers, etc.) provided access, transport, ease of
  entry.
• By 1850 sawmills were opening throughout the
  Puget Sound Region.
• Shipped to CA from ports

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Early forest harvesting techniques

• Mule and/or oxen teams
• Corduroy roads
• River dams/floods
• Hand saws and incuts (still visible)
• Unpatented lands made access limited to time and
  material

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The Onset of Industrialization

• Railroads granted land for capital
• Often timber companies accessed land (e.g. Hill
  Traded to Weyerhaeuser) from RRs.
• Lands started to be claimed (Homestead Act of
  1862)
• 160 320 acres per claim
• Timber companies used stand-ins to claim
  extensive tracts
• Mostly claimed lowland, old growth areas

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Harvesting Techniques Mechanized

• Steam Power and Steam logging (donkey engine)
• Skidders to pull logs uphill
• Cable systems and spars
• Access railroad logging

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Problems Solved(?)

• Nearby Market California
• Access to East Coast Northern Rail Routes
• Access to Interior Railroad Logging
• Other techniques Use of Rivers and Streams
  (flooding)

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Federal and State Lands

• Contract logging, but considered less valuable
• Many US forest lands on wasteage as designated
  in 1880s 1890s
• State Lands remains from those not bought from
  state (section 6 and 16) lesser quality of
  forest lands, more difficult access.

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Federal Bureaucracy Developing

• Forest Reserve Act 1891 (General Land Office,
  USDI)
• US Forest Service 1905 (USDA)
• 1907 US Forest Reserves renamed US National
  Forests.
• Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt key players
• Wise Use

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Business as Usual

• Frequently the connected few gained much from
  federal largess
• Demand for Spruce during WWI led to logging in
  the Olympic National Monument
• Attempts to set aside areas as preserves were
  fought by timber interests
• 1930s Depression reduced timber demand overall

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WWII and Korean War

• War increased demand for all resources
• Post War Increased consumerism
• Increased demand for wood products (GI Bill and
  home loans)
• New technologies for logging, especially road
  building, use of trucks, and yarding of logs to
  landings at roads
• More areas opened up, especially public lands

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Post-1951

• Timber companies overharvesting
• Federal lands becoming more and more accessible,
  open to logging
• Political and institutional issues (e.g.
  revolving door) affect forest management policies
• Get out the cut an important political tool

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MUSY Act of 1960

• Multiple Use Sustained Yield
• Addressed other forest uses
• Fiber production and removal still primary
• Considered an environmental law, fought by timber
  industry (but used by them later)

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Management Approach

• Dispersed cuts of 40 acres (10 ha)
• Supposed to provide more edge ? more ecotones ?
  more diversity
• Really provides more forage for game
• Drastically altered patterns and related
  processes in forest ecosystems

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Wilderness Act of 1964

• Set aside roadless areas
• Initially rock and ice
• Restrictive, especially due to size of area
  (decreased with amendments)
• RARE (Roadless Area Review and Evaluation) I and
  RARE II indicative of reluctance of bureaucracy
  to accept wilderness (remnant of G. Pinchot)
• Both reviews challenged by Sierra Club

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Recent History Important Laws

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA,
  with EIA and EIS)
• Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA)
• National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA)

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Early 1980s

• Reagan Administration appoints industry executive
  to run timber management portion of the US Forest
  Service
• Changes in regulations regarding cuts increase
  timber volume removed from forests significantly
• Related to several factors
• Closing out of private old growth holdings
• Mills outdated, mostly able to handle and mill
  large logs
• Public forests seen as an enormous untapped
  resource to keep mills running until retooling
  occurs

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Late 1980s

• Spotted Owl becomes an issue
• 1988 Forest Service releases guidelines for
  logging in spotted owl habitat
• Sued by Seattle Audubon Society and other
  environmental groups
• NEPA, ESA, NFMA laws that applied
• Initial responses included adaptive management

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Northern Spotted Owl Strix occidentalis caurina
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Interagency Science Committee

• Jack Ward Thomas, head biologist at USFS led 17
  member committee
• ISC recommended large habitat conservation areas
• USFS stated it would operate in a manner not
  inconsistent with ISC without following normal
  rule making procedures
• Audubon sued again, won in Dwyer court

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The God Squad

• USFWS lists Spotted Owl threatened
• USDI/BLM asks for exemption for 44 timber sales
  based on ruling by Dwyer on their activities
  based on exemption from section 7 of ESA (Fed
  agencies must consult with FWS)
• God squad advises exemption for some sales in
  exchange for a comprehensive plan to address
  habitat needs of the spotted owl

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The Gang of Four

• Scientific Panel on Late-Successional Forest
  Ecosystems
• Conclusion No alternative to conservation to
  follow laws (NEPA, ESA, NFMA)
• Larger areas of conservation for NSO needed than
  ISC report indicated
• Forest Service ignored the report, Audubon sued

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1992 Dwyer Decision

• Sued again, the US Forest Service and BLM (USDI)
  lost in a staggering decision by Judge Dwyer
• All timber sales on federal lands cancelled until
  guidelines, regulations, plans and rules
  regarding NEPA, ESA, and NFMA adopted and enacted

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FEMAT

• Clinton campaign promise
• Forestry conference of 1993
• Designation of Forest Ecosystem Management
  Assessment Team
• Plan in 60 days (extended to 90 days)
• Emphasis shifted from a PLAN to options the
  president would select
• 10 Options presented along a continuum, 9
  recommended and selected
• Sued by both sides of debate

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Ecosystem Management

• Developed here in the PNW first?
• FEMAT looked at very broad spatial and temporal
  scales (100 years, Watershed and greater)
• Incorporated disturbance, other processes into
  planning
• As best as possible, attempted to reconcile
  resource use with habitat conservation
• 50 100 year planning outlook
• First hand experience with lack of data, modeling
  into the future, and making decisions based on
  these situations

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FEMAT Matrix Approach

• Concepts of landscape ecology and island
  biogeography
• Within the matrix of forest resources, large
  patches of conserved, used, roaded, unroaded
  areas.
• Connectivity, contagion important concepts.
• Time scale and the 150 year-old cohort (Late
  Successional Reserves).

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Healthy Forests Initiative

• Bush plan to address fire-prone landscape
• Seen by environmentalists as a means to road and
  log unsuitable/closed areas
• Donato controversy (Biscuit Fire Regen Study)
• Recent timber sale planning of old growth by BLM
  on O and C lands in Oregon (2.2 million acres)

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Salmon.. ICBEMP