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Forests and Government
Timber Business As Usual in the Black Hills
Forest Services 'Model' Plan Keeps Logging As Top Priority
The Black Hills National Forest in western South Dakota was the second National Forest in the country to complete a forest plan as mandated by the National Forest Management Act. Now, as the Forest Service is preparing for another round of forest-level planning, the Black Hills Plan is one of the first to be revised. It was supposed to be the first Forest Plan to embody "ecosystem management" as its guiding principle, and the first to incorporate the latest research findings and strategies on preserving biological diversity an issue ignored in the first round of planning. The Black Hills Plan could have and should have served as a model for the revision of other plans across the country.
Instead, a draft of the Black Hills Plan, released in 1994, represented a dismal failure of the planning process to protect forest resources, and sent a clear signal that the Forest Service is not inclined to change its timber-oriented management practices. Conservationists charged that the plan failed to protect wildlife, recommended no new wilderness areas, allowed unsustainable logging and livestock grazing levels, and largely ignored public concerns. Twenty-two local, regional and national environmental organizations asked the Forest Service Chief to take the plan back to the drawing board and hold another round of public comment. The request was ignored.
The final revised Black Hills Plan was released in early 1997. As the Forest Service itself points out in a public relations document about the plan, "By law, the Revised Forest Plan direction must ensure that whatever we do will not diminish the capacity of the land to maintain a healthy ecosystem." How does the final revised plan measure up? You be the judge:
The Forest Service states that the amount of timber production in the Black Hills plan is a balance between the demands on the resources. Yet the plan identifies 70 percent of the forest suitable and available for logging. This is the highest rate in any National Forest in the entire Rocky Mountain region, with over 25,000 acres cut from the forest each year. n The Forest Service economic analysis for the revised Forest Plan indicates that recreation and forest-related tourism supports 8.1 percent of the area jobs and 5 percent of all the income in the area. Timber related activities account for just 2.7 percent of the jobs and 3.4 percent of the income. The agency's PR document recognizes the importance of the scenic beauty of the Black Hills and states that maintaining this beauty is a key element of the revised forest plan. Using advanced computer technology, the agency attempted to establish the degree of acceptable change resulting from management activities. Their conclusion: Less than one percent of the forest is to be managed for very high scenic integrity. Only 12.1 percent is slated for high, and a whopping 44.4 percent for low scenic value. - The Black Hills National Forest currently has one Wilderness area of 9,824 acres, and no Wild and Scenic Rivers. Less than one percent of the forest is protected as Wilderness, compared to 17 percent of National Forest lands nationwide.
- During the planning process, the Forest Service reviewed for wilderness potential three areas totaling about 16,000 acres. Although all of them met minimum standards for protection, not one acre was recommended for Wilderness designation. Likewise, the agency reviewed 16 streams totaling 121 miles as potential additions to the Wild and Scenic river system. Again, they all met minimum standards but none will be protected under the plan. According to the Forest Service, none of these wilderness areas and rivers provide unique opportunities.
- The Forest Service notes that old-growth forest, or late succession landscapes are an important feature of a healthy forest ecosystem. The agency's PR document boasts that while currently only about 5 percent of the Black Hills qualifies as old-growth, under their new management plan, over time approximately 9 percent of the forest will provide late succession landscapes. The document does not mention that this is a major retreat from the 1983 Forest Plan which projected the eventual return of 21 percent of the forest to old-growth conditions. The agency says that very little clearcutting will be done under the plan, but it admits that forest-wide many of the larger trees will be harvested.
The Forest Service is at a crossroads. It is essential that the second round of planning the results of which will be with us for the next 1015 years is scientifically rigorous, ecosystem-based, and responsive to the publics concerns. To the extent that the Black Hills Plan represents the new direction of the Forest Service, the agency appears to be moving in the wrong direction and none too slowly.
Areas of Concern:
The Black Hills National Forest is in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Rapid City, South Dakota is the nearest city.
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