On August 17, 2023, the Texas Conservation Alliance (TCA) and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club (Sierra Club) met with the U.S. Forest Service (FS), National Forests and Grasslands in Texas (NFGT), to continue a discussion about collaboration and other issues for the implementation of the 1996 Forest Plan and proposed projects/activities. Issues mentioned during the meeting included:
1. Collaboration
2. Use of categorical exclusions (CEs) for NEPA
3. Old growth implementation
4. Hiking trail corridor implementation
5. Wildfires in wilderness
6. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) reports/public availability
7. Climate change implementation for proposed projects.
The first issue discussed was wildfire in wilderness. The lightning started Hogpen Wildfire in Indian Mounds Wilderness Area (IMWA) burned several thousand acres. Both TCA and Sierra Club thanked the FS for allowing that fire to burn and not suppressing it immediately.
Upland Island Wilderness Area (UIWA) had three lightning caused fires which were suppressed in August. The Forest Supervisor stated that there is no certain number of wildfires that the NFGT can handle because everything depends on the time and conditions when the wildfires occur.
The NFGT has been overstressed with the number of wildfires this year. The NFGT brought in people from out-of-state because it didn’t have enough personnel to manage all wildfires. The incident commander is the person who makes the decision about how to fight each wildfire. The NFGT goes to the Region 8 Office about wildfire in wilderness and the Forest Supervisor also makes decisions about wildfire in wilderness.
This year the NFGT was fortunate because the Hogpen Wildfire, although burning in hot, dry, weather, had low winds that blew in the right direction and allowed the FS to let the wildfire burn to the Toledo Bend Reservoir shoreline.
The Forest Supervisor said that the NFGT doesn’t have all the resources it needs to fight wildfires and often doesn’t have the final say where those resources go. The Forest Supervisor stated, for one of the wildfires in UIWA, that the crew had been overzealous in cutting trees.
The Forest Supervisor said fire fighters are the ones who decide what tactics and tools are used on-the-ground. The Forest Supervisor stated there could be more discussion about wildfire in wilderness before crews go out. The Sierra Club stated this would be good because it would reinforce that wilderness is different than the general forest when dealing with wildfire.
The Sierra Club stated that no decision had been made about how often to meet to discuss issues each year. The Sierra Club prefers 3-4 times/year while the Forest Supervisor stated he prefers 1-2 times/year.
The Sierra Club stated that there were a lot of issues that hadn’t been resolved. Perhaps after these issues were resolved, fewer meetings could be held/year. Some of these unresolved issues are old growth implementation, collaboration, and M&E report availability.
Both the Sierra Club and TCA agreed that collaboration hadn’t really improved. Collaboration is a problem. What we need to do is meet early and often, build consensus, and avoid conflict and thus objections.
TCA felt good about the Beaver Creek Project because the District Ranger agreed to certain changes. For the White City Thinning, Gum Thinning, SFA Experimental Forest, Nebletts Creek, Montgomery County Wildlife Habitat Improvement, and Harmon Creek Projects there had been little to no collaboration.
TCA and Sierra Club stated that the NFGT won’t provide trail corridors that the Forest Plan says it should. The Sierra Club stated that old growth implementation hasn’t occurred.
TCA stated the FS uses CEs, instead of environmental assessments (EAs), for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) timber projects. TCA requested a legal opinion from the Forest Supervisor about the use of CEs. TCA stated that an EA was needed for the SFA Experimental Forest Project but the FS used a CE.
The Sierra Club requested from the FS the 2012-2022 M&E reports, as required in the Forest Plan. The Sierra Club asked the Forest Supervisor when this information would be provided. The FS stated that it was behind in completing M&E reports and that by December 2023 all the M&E reports would be complete.
The Sierra Club stated that there is a July 2022 FS Climate Adaptation Plan. This report has important information about how the FS addresses climate change and the NFGT should use it to prepare proposed projects.
The Forest Supervisor stated he would take what was said at the meeting to heart and follow-up in 2-3 weeks and tell the TCA and Sierra Club his decisions about what we discussed.