December 1, 2005
The Klamath National Forest is developing a plan to log the south side of the Mt. Ashland Old-Growth Reserve near the Long John and Grouse Creek portions of the Beaver Creek Watershed. Much of the forest targeted for logging was previously logged at the turn of the century by the Fruit Growers Supply Company of Hilt, California. Where there were once old-growth pine forests, now there are dense second-growth true fir stands.
The Forest Service is proposing to thin 2,600 acres of these dense second-growth fir stands. This proposed second growth thinning has the support of KS Wild and is a good first step towards restoring old-growth conditions to these logged-over lands.
Unfortunately, the Forest Service is also proposing to build nine miles of new logging roads. The Beaver Creek watershed, a tributary of the ailing Klamath River, already has far too many logging roads that fragment wildlife habitat while bleeding sediment into the creeks and streams.
The Forest Service also hopes to log many large old-growth trees to create so-called "fuelbreaks." Fuelbreaks remove old-growth habitat and encourage the growth of flammable brush fields and small-diameter trees. Fuelbreaks previously created on the north-side of the watershed are more susceptible to fire now than they were prior to the logging.
Please take a moment to write to the Forest Service to request that they focus on thinning the second-growth while avoiding new road construction and harmful "fuelbreaks" in the southside Mt. Ashland project.
Please write to:
Susan Stresser
Klamath National Forest
1312 Fairlane Road
Yreka, CA 96097
sstresser@fs.fed.us
For more information: call 541/488-5789 or visit www.kswild.org
More Information About
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
More Articles...
TOC for Forest & River News, Fall 2005