|
 |
Contents |
|
|
| Conservationists complain about logging in forest plan |
|
2006/2/23
NELSONVILLE, Ohio -- A new plan for managing Ohio's only national forest calls for giving high preservation status to 11 percent of the land while designating about 8 percent for logging.
Conservationists are upset, arguing that timber harvest activities could spread beyond the 18,000 acres slated to be cut.
Wayne National Forest covers nearly 240,000 acres in three units spread across 12 southern and southeast Ohio counties.
The U.S. Forest Service released the 10- to 15-year plan, four years in the making, this month. The plan selected from six alternatives provides the best mix of habitat, recreation and natural resources such as timber, oil and natural gas, the agency said. It is to be implemented in March, but an appeals period is open through mid-May.
The Buckeye Forest Council maintains that the plan is biased toward logging. The council and other conservation groups had lobbied for alternative plans that called for preserving more land.
"I expect that this unbalanced, indefensible acceleration of logging will lead to more protests and lawsuits as citizen groups are forced to challenge an agency that is severely abusing its authority to protect our public resources," said Heather Cantino of the Buckeye Forest Council.
The plan calls for a combination of commercial timber sales and controlled burning to keep some open areas and maintain a forest mix in some places that is mostly oak and hickory.
About 26,000 acres would be set aside for "future old forest," the most protective zone in the plan. By preventing fires and allowing mature trees to create more shade, the tree species will gradually give way to more maple and beech. The zone's size was increased by 3,000 acres from an earlier draft but is still 2,000 acres less than the previous plan.
The goal of the plan is to provide animals with a wide range of habitats, said Phil Sammon, a Forest Service spokesman. Some animals need open forest, some need dense older forests, he said.
"It's part of our obligation to provide those types of cover for all the different wildlife we have," he said. "For anyone to say that we should not cut down any trees is irresponsible from a wildlife management standpoint."
Also, selling the timber will make money, the Forest Service said, while the government would have to pay contractors to clear select trees for wildlife management otherwise. |
| Source:http://www.onnnews.com |
|
|
