Forest Watch - The Kettle Rangers Story

Despite all of its promised reforms, the 1988 Forest Plans were primarily a logging plan focused on clearcutting remaining wild roadless forests, projected to be reclogged every 60-80 years. The Colville LMP authorized logging of more than half of what it said was old forest and roadless areas, but this was based on inaccurate Inventoried Roadless Area (IRA) >5,000 acres that met legal standards. What this LMP actually sanctioned was logging 60% of all remaining wildlands meeting Roadless Area Review & Evaluation (RARE I & II) legal criteria.

What’s the need for Forest Watch – won’t the Forest Service protect our National Forests?

The simple answer from the 1970’s until today is – No! Despite the mission of the U.S. Forest Service to serve “the people,” its most aggressive, most visible and ecologically destructiveprogram is its Timber Sale Program. Through most of its history up to the 1960’s the U.S. Forest Service mostly offered small-scale timber sales. It aggressively ramped up logging as never before from 1970 to the 90’s, leading to massive clearcutting that in turn led to widespread social unrest and “The Timber Wars.”

Historically timber production in the United States has come from privately-owned timber lands that were also the highest yielding growing sites across all areas of the country.

Federal forest lands established by Congress and presidential decree were often located in rugged and mountainous terrain. In fact, a significant acreage of federal forests are classified as unsuitable for timber production or not forested. For instance about 6 million acres 16.7 million acre Tongass National Forest is nonforest.

Frustrated by a culture of Forest Service ignoring public concern, denial of meaningful outcomes and frustrated by rubber-stamp timber program, fledgling pro-wilderness and old growth forest activists like Kettle Rangers turned to new strategies to protect and preserve wild forests.

Industrial private forest business plan is focused on profitability fast-growing tree species. Logging federal lands is subsidized by taxpayers insuring corporate profitability.

Mature and old forest store an immense amount of carbon. Tree above ground carbon (AGC) increases sharply with tree diameter. In a study of 5 national forests east of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington, large trees accounted for 3% of total trees but held 33 to 46% of AGC.

In no way can a small tree replace in sheer volume of stored carbon that is held in an old growth tree for many generations to come. Logging – deforestation — removes standing tree carbon does not mimic wildfire that burns fine fuel leaves & branches but leaving tree boles to support future soil development, provide shelter from sun & wind, capturing snow and providing terrestrial and aquatic habitat. Logging results in tree sapling growth that increases wildfire risk of ignition and spread due to its branches being close together and near to the ground. Deforestation is more akin to carbon mining, not just the trees themselves, more importantly, deforestation results in forest soils exposed to wind, drying, heat and sunlight leading to loss of soil carbon.

Mature and old forests are beautiful, provide critically important wildlife habitat, are genetic reservoirs of ancient forests. The REASON for fighting timber sales is simply to hold onto the future of western forest ecosystems.