Association News

Region 1 Salvage Success

AFRC recently held its fall Region 1 monitoring meetings. Topics covered included updates from the regional office regarding direction from the Washington Office, budgets, long-term timber targets, staffing, and litigation. In FY18, the region’s timber target was 390 mmbf. Region 1 sold 355 mmbf or 91% of its target, the shortfall was due to some sales that were sold in FY18 but cannot be recorded until FY19. The FY19 target is 420 mmbf, and the region will ramp up yearly until it hits a long-term goal of 500 mmbf. The region currently has 246 mmbf tied up in litigation.

The forests are attempting to ramp up their timber sale programs from FY18. The Kootenai and Lolo sold larger volumes of salvage timber in FY18 and will ramp up from where they were in recent years. Current FY19-FY21 targets for each Forest are as follows:

FY19 FY20 FY21

Kootenai 71 mmbf 69 mmbf 67 mmbf

Lolo 39 mmbf 45 mmbf 51 mmbf

Idaho Panhandle 59 mmbf 86 mmbf 86 mmbf

B-D 38 mmbf 43 mmbf 41 mmbf

Custer-Gallatin 23 mmbf 22 mmbf 21 mmbf

Helena-Lewis and Clark 40 mmbf 48 mmbf 55 mmbf

AFRC Intervenes in Northwest Litigation

On October 30, Judge Christensen of the United States District Court, District of Montana, granted AFRC’s motion to intervene on behalf of AFRC member Sun Mountain Inc. in the North Hebgen Project litigation.

The North Hebgen Project is located on the Gallatin portion of the Custer-Gallatin National Forest and abuts the western edge of Yellowstone National Park. The project allows for 5,670 acres of commercial and non-commercial harvest and has three sales associated with the project: Teepee Stewardship, Whits Red, and Hebgen Flats.

On November 15, Judge Mosman, of the United States District Court, District of Oregon, also granted AFRC’s motion to intervene on behalf of AFRC member High Cascade Inc., in the Crystal Clear Restoration Project (CCR Project) litigation.

High Cascade is the purchaser of the Ahoy Stewardship Contract, the first sale from the CCR Project. The CCR Project is located on the Barlow and Hood River Ranger Districts of the Mt. Hood National Forest. The project’s purpose and need is to provide a sustainable supply of forest products, as directed by the Northwest Forest Plan, and address concerns related to high-intensity wildfires, specifically in the dry mixed-conifer ecosystem next to the Juniper Flats Wildland Urban Interface.

Restoring Forest Health, One Neighbor at a Time

Washington State’s healthy forests are vital to clean water and air, the economy, carbon sequestration, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. However, insects, disease, invasive plants, etc., continue to expand. To restore health to our forests, DNR has developed a 20-year Strategic Forest Health Plan committed to treat 1.25 million acres of unhealthy forestland in Central and Eastern Washington by 2037.

The plan is unprecedented in its scope and application. It embraces an all-lands, all-hands approach, recognizing that solutions for improving forest health must span property lines and government jurisdictions. Coordinating forest health treatment efforts with all willing forest landowners in high-priority watersheds is a key part of the forest health plan. DNR worked on the plan with more than 30 agencies, interest groups, and organizations, representing private, state, and federal forest landowners, state agencies, tribes, the forest industry, universities, and conservation groups.

One of DNR’s key landowner groups is the small private forest landowner. The agency has foresters on staff to provide forest health evaluations, technical assistance, and cost-share programs to help offset the expense of forest health treatments.

The DNR asks that you please call (509) 925-8510 if you own forestland in Adams, Asotin, Benton, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Walla Walla, Whitman, and Yakima counties; or (509) 684-7474 if your forestland is in Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Spokane counties, or the northern portion of Lincoln County. When you call, ask to speak to someone from the Landowner Assistance Program.

For more information, about the 20-year Forest Health Strategic Plan, visit www.dnr.wa.gov/ForestHealthPlan.