Fire Reduction Project Discussion on Monday
Liisa, 12.07.2008 10:29
The City Council will be discussing the Fire Reduction project proposed for the Ashland Creek Watershed and adjacent Forest Service Lands on Monday, July 14 at 6:00 PM in the Siskiyou Room in the Community Development Building.
The FS has given the City a 30 day preview of the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The project is disturbingly aggressive based on a compartmentalization / ridge-top suppression strategy and entails 31 helicopter pads, roadless area logging, logging within the Research Natural Area, logging within owl cores, and logging within riparian areas.
A Community Alternative was established that placed various limitations on the project including a reasonable 7" diameter limit within the roadless area, variable treatments on ridgelines, restrictions from logging on steep slopes, and limitations within the Research Natural Area.
The Forest Service is refusing to agree to diameter limits with the roadless area or elsewhere. They are delineating swathes along the ridgelines with consistent even thinning without site specificity. They will not accept restrictions on logging steep slopes including those within the Research Natural Area that are defined as highly prone to landslides. They are even refusing to restrict treatments in Owl Cores.
The Community Alternative was a compromise that many in the environmental community felt went too far. Forest canopy removal dries out sites, often results in mortality due to sun-shock, increases growth of small diameter fuels, often results in increasing highly flammable mistletoe branches, and degrades habitat characteristics. The Ashland Watershed maintains the highest density of nesting pairs of Spotted Owls with the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Soils within the Ashland Watershed are highly erosive and prone to landslide. The project needs strict limitations.
The Forest Service proposal will most likely increase fire hazards and the chance of ignition by drying out sites and increasing fuels while opening the City to risks of increased erosion and degrading critical habitat.
Please attend Monday night's meeting to educate yourself and get involved in promoting a more reasonable effective proposal.
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