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Forest Service In Race Against Beetles
EPIDEMIC: Thousands of acres of trees will be cut or burned as officials plan an aggressive attack to stall the pine beetle infestation.
By Steve Miller, Journal staff
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The U.S. Forest Service says its holding its own in the war on the mountain pine beetle epidemic in the Black Hills, although some county officials say the feds are not doing enough and some environmentalists doubt that any efforts will stem the beetles spread.
Tens of thousands of acres are being treated this summer on the Black Hills National Forest and tens of thousands of acres are in line to be cut or burned starting next year in the battle against the pine beetles, which have created big brown swatches in the forest from the Bearlodge Ranger District in Wyoming to the southern Black Hills.
Just last week, Northern Hills District Ranger Rhonda OByrne signed off on the Telegraph project, a major effort to thin the forest by cutting or burning trees to try to stem the beetle outbreak in southern Lawrence County,
In the next few weeks, Mystic District Ranger Bob Thompson will decide on the Slate Castle project to cut and burn trees northwest of Hill City, also in an effort to slow down pine beetles as well as to reduce fuel for potential wildfires.
Thompson said his district has adequate resources to wage the war. I think were holding our own.
The Black Hills National Forest has taken an aggressive approach to the pine beetle outbreak, deputy forest supervisor Dennis Jaeger said.
The infestation is at epidemic levels, he said. Weve always had bugs on the forest. But its been a long time since weve had this big of an infestation.
Jaeger said Forest Service crews are trying to get out in front of the bugs with their cutting and prescribed burns. But Bob Ewing, chairman of the Lawrence County Commission, wants the Forest Service to do more to battle outbreaks in the Northern Hills, particularly near Custer Peak.
The Telegraph project is aimed at that outbreak. Ewing said he couldnt comment too specifically on the Telegraph project until he sees which alternative OByrne chose. But he said he didnt think any of the alternatives on the table were adequate to bring the outbreak under control.
Ewing and other county commissioners took a tour of the infested area in late May.
It kind of makes you sick, he said. Wed like to see them get aggressive and take care of that problem. Its a disease. You need to go in and get rid of it.
Ewing said he understands that the beetles, like weeds, are nearly impossible to eradicate. But, It seems like its blossoming, he said.
A Sierra Club official also expressed reservations about the Forest Service efforts, but from another perspective. Jim Margadant, a Rapid City-based conservation officer for the Sierra Club, said some members of the group are skeptical that no matter what the Forest Service does, the pine beetles will continue their march through the Hills.
Margadant said the Sierra Club doesnt plan to appeal the projects being considered for next year. Were going to look at them and see if this in fact is going to halt the bugs, slow the bugs or is it going to pay dividends with respect to wildfire, he said.
He said the pine beetle outbreak is beyond anything seen before in the Hills.
They are running amok out there.
He said bug outbreaks throughout the West are linked to increased temperatures and climate change.
So this may become the new norm. If thats the case, were going to look at a much different Black Hills National Forest, Margadant said. Its going to be opened up and become more of a pine savannah because of the beetles. Change may be afoot there, whether you like it or not.
Jaeger said the Forest Service is focusing its efforts on the most serious outbreaks. In the past few years, many of those efforts have been on the Hell Canyon District in the Southern Hills. This year, more work is being done on the Mystic District in the Hill City area. Now, with bigger outbreaks in the Northern Hills, the focus will move there.
Frank Carroll, public affairs officer for the national forest, said between 200,000 and 300,000 acres have been treated in the Black Hills over the past decade.
This year, about 30,000 acres are being treated, he said. Projects throughout the Hills could total 30,000 acres or more beginning next fiscal year. But Carroll said the efforts by man to thin the forest are in a race with the efforts by nature: fire and pine beetles.
The Forest Service uses a combination of prescribed burns, commercial logging and non-commercial cutting to thin stands.
One problem facing the Forest Service efforts is the low price for timber, which affects the commercial logging industry. We need them to do the work, Carroll said. Theyre the people who have the big machines.
Jaeger said the Black Hills is luckier than some other forests in that there is still a commercial timber industry alive here, making thinning less costly to taxpayers.
But the Forest Service officials acknowledge that chasing bugs is difficult. Part of the challenge is that it takes the Forest Service at least a year to do the planning, and writing documents, including the environmental impact statement, for each project.
The bugs dont wait for the paperwork. After infecting a tree, they fly to other trees, typically in early August.
Lets say you find an outbreak thats occurred, the Mystic Districts Thompson said. By the time you get through the planning process, its too late to do anything about those green-hit trees. Theyre dead, but theyre green.
He said the trees infested by bugs last August are just beginning to fade to light green. Then, theyll turn red. The crews try to remove the green-hit trees before the bugs fly, and they also try to thin nearby stands to give trees a better chance to fight off the bugs.
The beetles typically fly to nearby trees. But theyre not always predictable. They can also leapfrog whole areas and appear several hundred yards away, according to Chris Stores, a planner with the Northern Hills Ranger District. We have to try to treat not where the beetles are but where they might be, Stores said.
Thompson says the best approach is proactive, not reactive. Its to maintain the forest at a lower density that makes the trees more able to fight off the pine beetles, he said.
Thompson and other forest officials say its not possible or even desirable to eliminate all the pine beetles.
Theyre endemic, Thompson said. The Black Hills evolved with the mountain pine beetle. The beetles do some good, providing food and habitat for birds and other animals. They open up the canopy in places to allow aspen and other vegetation to grow.
But the large-scale outbreaks pose a major fire threat as well as a threat to the health of the forest.
Were not trying to wipe out the pine beetles, Thompson said. Were trying to manage them.
Thinning projects on the Black Hills National Forest
All four districts on the Black Hills National Forest have projects under way and others being planned to stem the spread of mountain pine beetles and to reduce fuel for wildfires.
Projects include:
Mystic Ranger District (Rapid City)
Ongoing projects:
- Deerfield. (Winding down). About 14,000 acres of prescribed burning and commercial timbering of 12,000 acres.
- Mitchell project, around Hill City. About 9,000 acres of prescribed burning, 15,000 acres of mechanical treatment, including both commercial and non-commercial cutting.
- Upper Spring Creek, west of Hill City. About 14,000 acres of prescribed burning; 25,000 acres of commercial and non-commercial cutting.
Upcoming projects:
- Slate Castle Project, including Slate Creek, Slate Creek Dam, Mystic area, to south of the Deerfield Road. Decision coming soon. Work to begin in Fiscal Year 2010. Total mechanical treatment of about 30,000 acres, prescribed burning about 15,000 acres.
Hell Canyon Ranger District (Custer)
Ongoing projects:
- Bug Town Gulch, northwest of Custer (begun in 2006). About 9,000 acres being treated.
- Norwood, south of ONeil Pass along the South Dakota/Wyoming border. About 20,000 acres.
Upcoming:
- South. West of Custer. 30,000 to 40,000 acres. Timber sales being prepared.
- Atlantic Bug (Just approved). Two units near Atlantic Mountain Ranch and one along Timber Foot Creek, both west of U.S. Highway 385 north of Custer. 250 acres.
- Vestal. Around city of Custer. In early stages of planning, with work to begin late next year. 15,000 to 20,000 acres.
- Norbeck, in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, to treat primarily to benefit wildlife habitat, but the work also will help discourage spread of bug trees, according to District Ranger Lynn Kolund.
Northern Hills Ranger District (Spearfish)
Ongoing:
- West Rim, area surrounding Spearfish Canyon. About 13,800 acres of prescribed burning, 15,000 acres of commercial and non-commercial cutting.
Upcoming:
- Telegraph project. (Decision signed last week by District Ranger Rhonda OByrne but not yet released). Area is immediately north of Rochford, bordered on the south by the south fork of Rapid Creek. Between 22,000 and 34,500 acres to be treated with cutting and prescribed fire.
Bearlodge District (Sundance, Wyo.)
Ongoing:
- About 25,000 acres of treatment since 2006.
Upcoming:
- Rattlesnake Project, about five miles south of Beulah, Wyo., extending 12 miles south along the Wyoming/South Dakota border. Environmental Impact Statement to be issued this fall, with decision expected early in 2010. 10,000 acres.
The district does prescribed burns on about 1,000 acres each year, according to district ranger Steve Kozel.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8415 |
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