Forest Service project on national radar

MINERAL COUNTY – A Forest Service project in Mineral County over half a decade in the making has turned heads at a national level according to one F.S. official and is in the final stages of approval.

The Cedar Thom project has been in development since at least 2009 and is being looked at by F.S. officials in Washington D.C. as a model of responsible, sustainable development of timber projects in national forests.

Superior Ranger District Ranger Tawnya Brummett said, while a long time coming, she felt the project has passed most of the major hurdles to final approval. If approved, the Cedar Thom timber project would also generate substantial economic gain for Mineral County.

Exact estimates were not immediately available but Brummett said millions of board feet of timber could potentially be harvested. She also said the project would improve the forest as a wildlife habitat.

“This is a large project that has gotten some Washington level office interest,” Brummett said. “That’s not very common. It’s a very good, integrative project. It will benefit the watershed, fisheries and wildlife habitat. Vegetation-wise it will help the health of the forest. It has a lot of really great outcomes.”

The site is just south of Superior near Cedar Creek and encompasses hundreds of acres which will be harvested, not in a clear-cut slash and burn method, but instead using sophisticated techniques which will remove tons of dead debris that currently litters the forest floor, inhibiting the movement and migration of important animal species through the county.

Brummett said the project will involve intermittent logging, road development and some burning of areas with particularly heavy debris load. She said the project has the unwavering support of Mineral County Commissioners and has been positively received by the communities it will affect.

“I think that’s one reason it has gotten such an interest nationally,” Brummett said. “The community is really interested in pushing this forward. They have gotten their senators interested and our own county commissioners are very interested in the project.”

Part of why the community has become so interested in the project, according to Brummett, is because the Cedar Thom project has brought to the forefront of the local conversation issues that have been simmering for years. Timber management and wildland/urban land interface issues have been on the Mineral County public’s minds for years, according to Brummett.

“People are interested in managing the woods that are right outside their homes,” Brummett said. “This was a collaborative effort. A lot of people interested in these issues came to the table and helped the Forest Service develop this project. It was a community effort. This could be seen as a first step in everyone understanding each other’s concerns and moving forward together.”

Brummett said, as district ranger, her role has been to make sure the Cedar Thom project is the top priority for her resources. She said the reason the site was chosen for the work was due to a national directive to look at watershed areas that needed attention in order to maintain a healthy forest system.

After careful analysis, the Cedar Thom site was recognized as an area that needed work on multiple levels, which according to Brummett, is a new way of looking at land management projects. She said examining forest issues in a comprehensive way, taking into account fire danger, wildlife habitat and sustainable timber harvest is thought to be the best way to handle these land management issues.

“We look at where needs overlap,” Brummett said. “It just so happened that a lot of things overlapped up Cedar Creek. It needed attention and treatment. Cedar Creek is important to a lot of people and there are a lot of competing values but everyone came to the table early on and I think that’s one reason why it rose to the level of concern that it has is because it was a collaborative effort.”

Brummett said the project, while in the final stages of approval, could still get bogged down in the courts. She did say litigation would slow things down, but she didn’t think a lawsuit could stop the Cedar Thom project from moving forward at this point.

The project still has to go through a process where groups can lodge objections to the project which is essentially an appeal process, according to Brummett. The F.S. then has the opportunity to work with the groups that lodge objections to come to a solution that satisfies everyone’s interests.

Brummett said, if approved, the work could begin as soon as 2015 and could take as long as five or even ten years. She said the local F.S. station is very excited about moving the project forward and has received high praise at the national F.S. level.

“This is a very comprehensive plan,” Brummett said. “We could generate 20 million board feet from this, maybe even 25 million board feet. Our commissioners were key in this. A lot of the community donated their time on this. Litigation could slow us down but I don’t believe it could stop the project. I’m hopeful that won’t happen. It’s a really great project.”