FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Federal officials are preparing to push ahead with a massive thinning project in two national forests in northern Arizona.
The U.S. Forest Service recently released a plan for restoration work on nearly 1,000 square miles in the Coconino and Kaibab national forests, marking a major environmental hurdle for the project that has been in development for nearly four years, the Arizona Daily Sun reported (https://goo.gl/VqK9d4 ).
Goals include reducing the severity of wildfires, protecting watersheds, creating forest-related jobs and minimizing hazards from bark beetles.
The plan calls for about 75 percent of the project area to be mechanically thinned and treated with prescribed fire, while the remaining 25 percent would just see the controlled burns.
The project would dramatically reduce tree density from 400-1,000 per acre to 12-125 trees per acre.
Some environmentalists had pushed to prohibit logging of large-diameter trees, but the Forest Service settled on wording that emphasized the retention of larger trees but provided flexibility to decide when and where such trees should be cut, said Ethan Aumack, conservation director for the Grand Canyon Trust.
“Part of the interesting nature of collaborative processes like this is there’s a long list of things people want, and in the end, if the collaboration is successful, folks usually get what they need,” Aumack said. “I think we’ve reached that threshold here.”
Todd Schulke of the Center for Biological Diversity said the group still has concerns about possible effects on the habitat of the threatened Mexican spotted owl but believes the Forest Service’s strategy is a step in the right direction.
Forest officials “deserve a lot of credit for hearing our comments and concerns, taking them seriously and doing their best to address them,” Schulke said.
To implement the plan, the Forest Service would issue orders to contractors to harvest trees. Before that, a months-long period will allow opponents to file objections and the Forest Service to issue responses.
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