mhagen wrote:

The Forest Service report can be found at www.fs.fed.us/r5/snfpa/.



Comment by poster: If wild areas are called wilderness, couldn't
timber production areas be called "timberness"? G When the revisions
take effect, shouldn't the Bush Administration take action to break up
timber monopolies and immediately make Federal timber more valuable?

Larry, forest sculptor



Dream on Larry. This administration loves monopolys and in small timber
towns, youre pretty much stuck with a single bidder during bad markets.
On the Forestry side - what would be left after a "thinning" that
removed everything up to that diameter? Are we talking about harvest
inside the owl circles? Most of these are roadless areas - that's why
they were left as owl habitat...


Here's what it says in the FAQ:

# What are the effects of the preferred alternative on wildlife and the
environment?

The preferred alternative ...

* Protects all trees 30 inches in diameter and larger. Protects
most medium sized trees in treatment areas by retaining 40% of the basal
area in the largest trees even if they are less than 30 inches in diameter.
* Sets a canopy cover goal of 50% in treatment areas, and allows
reductions to 40% based on local conditions and analysis.
* Maintains existing California spotted owl Protected Activity
Centers (PACs), requires owl surveys, establishes new PACS for newly
discovered owl sites, and limits fuels treatments in PACs. Where fuels
treatments occur in PACs, the treated acres will be replaced by adding
adjacent untreated acres of comparable quality to the PAC.
* Increases the estimated amount of future (tenth decade) old
forest habitat by reducing severity of wildfires that would otherwise
destroy large old trees and old forest ecosystems. In the short-term
(second decade), the preferred alternative will provide 6% less nesting
habitat for California spotted owls and 3% more overall habitat for owls.
* Late season grazing in willow flycatcher habitat reduces the risk
of disturbance to the estimated 90% of nests in which the young leave
the nest before August 15. The preferred alternative directs restoration
of degraded willow flycatcher habitat; this measure not in the current
direction.


Sounds like an ambitious but workable plan.
MH