Can timber sales be a good thing? Two recent items in the news make us reconsider the question that divided the Northwest at the close of the 20th century.
In a June 10 story, Columbian reporter Dameon Pesanti looked at an agreement that conserves more than 20,000 acres of forest near Mount St. Helens that might have been developed into small homesites for recreational cabins or year-round living. Although conserved, the forest won’t be left as is. Instead, most of it will be scheduled for logging over the coming decades; only about 2,300 acres along Pine Creek will be managed to eventually create the characteristics of old growth forest.
Then, in a June 18 story, Pesanti wrote about the state Department of Natural Resources’ plan to log about 60 acres near Moulton Falls Regional Park. The area to be cut runs for almost a half mile along the Moulton Falls Trail. Not surprisingly, some people who enjoy the trail and the beauty of the area are skeptical of the sale.
No matter what you think of timber sales, the need for wood products is undeniable. With due respect to our online readers, there’s a good chance you are currently holding a large sheet of paper in your hands. But the scars inflicted by clear-cut logging, the easiest and most economical approach to timber harvesting, come quickly to mind when Pacific Northwesterners hear the words “timber sale.” The logged land is soon replanted, but it’s ugly for decades. The short human lifespan and the long tree growth cycle mean that only the youngest of us will ever see tall trees in these spots again.
But just saying “stop selling timber” is too simple. In the case of the agreement near Mount St. Helens, the sales will provide much-needed jobs to Skamania County residents; the taxes will help bolster local schools and a county government that was hit hard by a suspension of logging on federal lands during the spotted owl days. The agreement allows trees to flourish in critical areas along streams that could have been polluted by residential activities, and the young, replanted forest provides food and habitat for wildlife such as elk.
The sale near Moulton Falls, which has been named the Michigan Trotter Timber Sale, is much smaller. Unlike the Mount St. Helens deal between the government, the Columbia Land Trust and Pope Resources, this sale won’t affect vast landscapes and swaths of habitat. It’s the views from the trail and the recreational Chelatchie Prairie rail line that have advocates rightly concerned.
Once again, it’s not that simple. Because the majority of the site is owned by the state, the money will go to the trust fund that builds new schools and university buildings.
More importantly, the state says the forest will not be clear-cut, but instead logged using a variable retention harvest, which leaves patchy clumps of trees, a few individual trees, and other vegetation. There will be buffers around waterways, and a few large old conifers will be left standing near the trail to reduce the impacts on its beauty and recreational value.
It’s hard to envision what these tracts of land will look like in five years, in 25 years or in 50 years. Will they be part of the Pacific Northwest forest monoculture that conservation groups decry? Or will forest managers and loggers be able to effectively work their plans and sustain healthy forests for future generations? We may never fully know the answer. It is up to our generation to trust, and future generations to verify.
