Called the Highway 46 Project, the proposed timber sale would degrade about 4,000 acres of the Breitenbush watershed, which is in the northern section of our proposed Douglas-fir National Monument.

In their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the Forest Service has offered three alternative actions.  Alternative 1 proposes “no action” and is not favored by the Forest Service.  Alternative 2 is the one they prefer, with commercial thinning in both previously logged plantations (old clear-cuts) and areas that are “regenerating” from natural fires that burned many years ago (the rest of us just refer to this as plain old and beautiful natural forest.)  Alternative 3 is similar but would only log the plantations, not the fire-regenerated (sic) areas.  Both of the “action” alternatives (2 and 3) would also do some limited thinning in riparian areas, treat for encouraging the growth of sugar pine (at the northern end of its range here) by logging other tree species, and perform a number of other actions.

To read the full DEIS, a pdf file with 354 pages, click on Hwy 46 Project Draft EIS. The key sections of the DEIS, with maps and summaries of the environmental impacts, can be found in the section starting on page 63.

Friends of Douglas-fir National Monument is supportive of scientifically sound, ecological restoration thinning of plantations, where thinning will accelerate the return of a more diverse, natural forest.  However, we are adamantly opposed to any logging in virgin natural forests (what the Forest Service euphemistically calls fire-regenerated areas.  Alternative 2 is unacceptable.

Periodic fire is a necessary and desirable influence on natural forests.  Fire is either the renewal or the continuation of a natural forest.  Fire is a natural part of the forest cycle, and these stands will not benefit from logging.

Friends of Douglas-fir National Monument conditionally supports Alternative 3. If the Forest Service limits their logging to ecological restoration of plantations, we can support it.

Let the Forest Service know we care about their plans for this important area.

1. Log in plantations only, no logging in natural forests.

2. Oppose Alternative 2.

3. Support Alternative 3, but condition your support to thinning only in plantations, and if it incorporates spatial and species variability, no new roads, and adequate stream buffers.

Thank you.

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