Timber sustainability in question

The impacts of wildfire and the mountain pine beetle have had serious negative impacts on the Black Hills National Forest, prompting an ongoing discussion about the best way to manage the forest’s health and sustainability into the future.

An advisory board formed to gather data about the standing forest inventory and provide advice to the U.S. National Forest Service believes the best way to manage the problem is to maintain commercial timber programs at their current levels.

However, a draft report from the U.S. National Forest Service itself recommends slashing the annual harvest in half, directly contradicting this recommendation and prompting concern from the advisory board that doing so could have dire consequences for the Forest and surrounding communities.

The Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee recently requested help from Wyoming’s delegation in Washington, D.C., hoping for clarity as to why there is such a large disparity in the recommendations for timber sales that came from the Forest Service and the advisory board.

While uncertainty remains as to how these recommendations could impact the local timber industry, the Crook County Commissioners will be considering what proactive steps can be taken.

“The commission will be considering hiring a company to do a socio-economic study to supplement our natural resource management plan,” says Commissioner Jeanne Whalen, who recently completed a term as vice chair of the advisory board.

“The supplement will study the impact of using natural resources have on Crook County’s economy…and what would happen if we cannot use them anymore.”

Timber Sales

While it might seem contradictory to suggest cutting down more trees in order to ensure there are enough trees in a forest, that’s exactly what the advisory board’s analysis found to be the best solution. According to the board, the commercial timber program funds the thinning program that keeps the forest healthy; without that program, there simply won’t be enough funding available to reduce wildfire risk and promote growth.

The National Forest Advisory Board for the Black Hills (NFAB) was formed in 2016, after the most recent mountain pine beetle epidemic. A group of stakeholders representing forest products, the states of Wyoming and South Dakota and the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) agreed to intensify the existing Forest Inventory and Analysis plots and remeasure them for volume, growth and mortality.

This group has now grown to include local governments and environmental groups and its discussions have expanded to include sustainable timber harvests. In the light of concerns that wildfire, the beetle epidemic and high timber sales are causing resources on the Forest to dwindle, the BHNF asked the board to provide a recommendation on timber program sustainability.

The board’s findings suggested that the BHNF does not accomplish enough acres of pre-commercial thinning to keep pace with the ecological needs of the forest. According to a report prepared by Danielle Wiebers, Chairperson, the funds available to perform pre-commercial thinning are inadequate and they increase and decrease along with increases and decreases in the commercial timber program.

“If the commercial timber program increases, pre-commercial funding increases,” says Wiebers in the report.

According to the advisory board, pre-commercial thinning generally increases the growth rate of the trees that remain in the stand and also reduces the risk and spread of high-severity wildfires. But while the board considers thinning to be critical, “there is a gap in the number of acres that require treatment each year and the number of acres which are treated.”

This is principally due to the shortage of funds, which is generated from two sources: appropriated funding from Congress and revenue from timber sales.

“It is important to recognize that funding for pre-commercial thinning would very likely decrease for the BHNF if the commercial timber sale program decreases,” says Wiebers in the report. “Appropriated funding for pre-commercial thinning normally follows national forests with greater commercial timber programs.”

Economic Impact

In its report, the board recognized that economics do not factor into the task of determining a sustainable timber program. On the other hand, “communities and economies are part of the broader sustainability question” and the board felt the economic impact of reducing the commercial timber program should be noted.

Forest product companies directly employ more than 1400 people and contribute over $120 million in salaries and contractor payments to local communities. Forest product companies also contribute indirectly to numerous other local businesses and nonprofits and to the tax base.

Whalen testified on this aspect to the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee. Her comments, she says, focused on how the timber industry in the Black Hills affects so many other businesses, including, “The mills, mechanics, fuel stations, cafes, chain saw dealers, vendors who stock the clothing and items necessary to work outdoors.

She also spoke to, “Value-added industry: post and pole companies, companies who use the blue stained wood for furniture and home décor, mills that sell treated lumber directly to the customer for home and ranch use.”

Recommendations

Based on its findings, the advisory board’s recommendation was to maintain an annual harvest of 181,000 CCF. The draft report from the U.S. National Forest Service, however, recommends reducing the harvest to between 70,000 and 115,000 CCF per year to allow the forest time to recover from the hardships of wildfire and epidemics.

The draft report suggests that such a reduction would allow the live sawtimber inventory amounts to return to the level needed to support the current forest plan of 181,000 CCF within a century.

“The bottom line is that net growth (gross growth minus mortality) needs exceed harvest to accumulate wood volume in the Black Hills,” the draft states.

The Wyoming Legislature’s Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee has now added its voice to the concern. In the letter sent to the state’s delegation in Washington, D.C., the committee recognizes the critical importance of the timber sale program on the BHNF and asks the delegation to assist in obtaining a clearer understanding from the U.S. Forest Service as to why their recommendation deviates so significantly from that of the board.