clearwater150
Member
- Messages
- 75
Representative Labrador (R - Idaho) is at it again. He has again introduced legislation to turn management of public lands over to the State of Idaho. Any of you who have hunted on State lands here in Idaho know what to expect....a lot of clearcuts, a lot of roads, most of which are in very poor condition, a lot of slash, messed up streams, and very little big game. Rep. Labrador's bill would carve out of the National Forest a "community forest demonstration area" of 200,000 acres to be managed by State regulations. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2316
The stated purpose and need for such a transfer is all wrapped up in common political doublespeak that the National Forest is just sitting there and is worthless....but if the State gets to manage the lands it will produce a lot of good stuff. The truth is, the State of Idaho has been practicing accelerated logging for a lot of years now. Research shows that to maximize long term wood production, our best, fastest growing timber sites in Idaho should be harvested about once every 90 years. That is right! Once every 90 years....and it goes up to 120 years or more on the slower growing timber sites. The State has been moving toward rotating their lands about every 40 to 60 years regardless of productivity class. Of course, if you call the State and ask them for basic data to do your own independent assessment...such as the number of acres in timber, number of acres by age class, number acres in productivity class and so on, to get a good idea of how fast the State is actually going through their lands you will get rebuffed and told that information is 'proprietary'. The bottom line is that the public has no way of knowing just how bad things are on our State Endowment lands. And Representative labrador wants us to allow this mystery management on 200,000 acres of public lands! Gads! The inside story from State foresters is that the State is going to run out of timber...they need an large infusion of timber land just to keep going while the Endowment lands they have butchered for timber grow back. So...Representative Labrador wants to carve out say...about 200,000 acres of our public lands and hand it over to the State to continue to practice their brand of mystery forest management on. I don't know about you, but I avoid State land when hunting except for using it for access around private property to access BLM or Forest Service public land. I know when I get to the public lands that they have seriously taken wildlife, fish and other values into consideration when planning their grazing or timber management projects...and I will find clean water, hiding cover and abundant wildlife. We should all call our Congressional folks and tell them thumbs down to Rep Labrador's bill.
The stated purpose and need for such a transfer is all wrapped up in common political doublespeak that the National Forest is just sitting there and is worthless....but if the State gets to manage the lands it will produce a lot of good stuff. The truth is, the State of Idaho has been practicing accelerated logging for a lot of years now. Research shows that to maximize long term wood production, our best, fastest growing timber sites in Idaho should be harvested about once every 90 years. That is right! Once every 90 years....and it goes up to 120 years or more on the slower growing timber sites. The State has been moving toward rotating their lands about every 40 to 60 years regardless of productivity class. Of course, if you call the State and ask them for basic data to do your own independent assessment...such as the number of acres in timber, number of acres by age class, number acres in productivity class and so on, to get a good idea of how fast the State is actually going through their lands you will get rebuffed and told that information is 'proprietary'. The bottom line is that the public has no way of knowing just how bad things are on our State Endowment lands. And Representative labrador wants us to allow this mystery management on 200,000 acres of public lands! Gads! The inside story from State foresters is that the State is going to run out of timber...they need an large infusion of timber land just to keep going while the Endowment lands they have butchered for timber grow back. So...Representative Labrador wants to carve out say...about 200,000 acres of our public lands and hand it over to the State to continue to practice their brand of mystery forest management on. I don't know about you, but I avoid State land when hunting except for using it for access around private property to access BLM or Forest Service public land. I know when I get to the public lands that they have seriously taken wildlife, fish and other values into consideration when planning their grazing or timber management projects...and I will find clean water, hiding cover and abundant wildlife. We should all call our Congressional folks and tell them thumbs down to Rep Labrador's bill.
