At a time when many Washingtonians are still sorting through metaphoric bushels of lemons handed to them by this year’s wildfires, some forest managers and loggers are still finding ways to team up to make lemonade.
Selective logging and restorative work done on state land in the Oak Creek Wildlife Area is providing much-needed work for timber workers and laying a path to rehabilitate forest health and improve wildlife habitat. From the Yakima Herald:
There’s no elk to be seen and no singing birds to be heard above the rumble of logging equipment stripping branches and sawing up logs.
But unlikely as it may seem, the animals of the state’s Oak Creek Wildlife Area stand to benefit greatly from the logging, said area manager Ross Huffman. …
It’s not a clearcut. Many large pines with red marks on their trunks remain standing. And when it’s finished, there will be open forest that spurs new grass growth and is more fire tolerant, Huffman said. …
Many foresters say this type of selective logging is a solution to the thick overgrowth that makes Eastern Washington’s forests prone to disease and destructive wildfires. …
The logging is just one piece of restoration project spanning years and designed to improve wildlife habitat on some of the 10,000 acres the state purchased from Plum Creek Timber in 2007. The purchase was facilitated by The Nature Conservancy, which also paid a forester to plan for the land’s future. …
At a time when state budgeting is still relatively tight, leveraging the value of limited commercial timber harvesting to finance and support other ecological goals is an efficient solution.
With forest health funding in high demand and short supply, pairing commercial logging with restoration work makes fiscal sense. …
But even though the logging didn’t turn a profit, it’s still a success, according to Huffman and Greg Mackey, a wildlife department forester.
In addition to the larger-scale ecological and financial benefits, the work keeps logging crews busy and sends timber to local mills.
The forest will be healthier, the project paid for itself, and it put an Ellensburg-based crew of loggers to work for the summer, Mackey said.
Mackey said that most of the saw logs are headed to a mill west of White Pass in Randle. The smaller wood will head to a pulp mill, and logs selected to be future hop poles will head down to the Yakima Valley.
Read more of the full article at the Yakima Herald >>
