Timber cuts in the heavily logged Black Hills
National Forest of South Dakota will plummet 25 percent under a
revised forest plan released last month. Forest staff studied eight
alternatives and recommended setting the allowable timber harvest
at 86.7 million board-feet per year for the next decade, almost 30
mmbf less than the current plan allows. Forest Supervisor Roberta
Moltzen says previous harvest levels were based on overly
optimistic predictions of forest regeneration. Some sawmills in the
area have already closed, but the agency says “factors other than
the forest’s timber supply” are to blame. Kirk Koepsel, of the
Sierra Club’s Northern Plains office, was pleased with the cut
reduction, but disappointed when the plan failed to designate
wilderness areas and scenic rivers or preserve enough older stands.
“If the planners think this is going to make conservationists
happy, they are really not in touch with reality,” he says. For
information, copies, or to comment by Oct. 24, contact: Forest Plan
Revision Comments, Black Hills National Forest, RR 2, Box 200,
Custer, SD 57730 (605/673-2251).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Agency cuts timber cut.
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