Re: King Fire
Remember, I am not a forester. Just an observer of the forests where my wife and I primarily drive our Sportsmobile.
In response to my query if the Forest Service which is part of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (as opposed to the Park Service which is part of the U.S. Dept. of Interior) was fulfilling its mandate to promote forest agriculture (uhh... you guys and gals know that trees are an agricultural product right?), an actual forester says this:
"Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt are taking turns rolling over in their respective graves! There are two laws (Organic Act of 1897 and the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960) that the USFS, through the coercion of environmental groups, largely ignore. The Organic Act of 1897 obligates the federal government “to improve and protect the forest, .. [secure] favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of the citizens of the U.S.” The Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960 is a federal law passed by the United States Congress on June 12, 1960. This law authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and administer the renewable resources of timber, range, water, recreation and wildlife on the national forests for multiple use and sustained yield of the products and services."
Timber harvests have been reduced 78% since 1987 on our National Forests lands. These lands grow about 12.2 billion board feet annually and the harvest is about 2.5 billion board feet...so if you harvest below growth rates fuel accumulates over time. The growth is occurring on late successional species (more shade tolerant species) which are less fire resistant than the early successional species which are adapted to a fire environment (which most of our Sierra Nevadan forests were historically). Furthermore, current harvest levels on national forest and other federal lands remain insufficient to: 1) maintain forest health and resiliency, 2) control epidemic levels of insect damage, 3) reduce hazardous fuels to limit wildfire risk, 4) mitigate the effects of catastrophic wildfire, and 5) improve habitat for special status plants and animals. Despite such concerns, some groups and political leaders continue to advocate major restrictions or even total bans on commercial timber harvest on public forestlands.
The proof that they are ignoring these law is the closure of sawmills wherever the USFS owns significant timber lands (western United States). Forestry and wood products manufacturing employment, which is concentrated in the rural communities near forestlands continues on a downward trend. The United States is now a net importer of wood products. In 2005, imports of wood and paper products as a share of domestic consumption rose to 30%. To put this in perspective, we net import about 40% our oil needs.
Neal"
[bold in original.]
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