Take action to help save Climax and Little Egypt!
Please Send Comments by March 9, 2012!
Your help is needed – click here to send a comment letter to the forest service.
DETAILS: For the last year and half, you have helped us protect the forests of Little Egypt and Climax (the recharge zone for Climax spring) from the Forest Service's commercial logging plans as part of the Crooked Creek Project in the London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest.
One of the reasons Forest Service officials insist they need to log is to pay for much needed timber stand improvement (TSI) on hundreds of acres of old clearcuts in the project area. These 20-30 year-old forests, a legacy of the Forest Service's clearcut bonanza in the 1980's and 90's, are in poor shape. They are overstocked and full of stump-sprouted, malformed, and stressed trees. Using TSI to non-commercially thin these stands would release healthy trees from competition and aid the development of a much healthier forest. While the Forest Service proposes to thin just 281 of the 900 acres of old clearcuts in the project area, Kentucky Heartwood has proposed, as part of a Citizen's Alternative, that this acreage be at least doubled.
Now the Forest Service has proposed the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project to perform TSI on over 3,000 acres of old clearcuts in the London District. Despite the name, “pre-commercial thinning” does not mean that commercial logging is or will be planned for these areas. Kentucky Heartwood does not support commercial logging in our national forest.
This new proposal is great news - a move toward fixing the mess that they made. But what's not so great, is that while the Forest Service clearly has funding to thin these 3,000 acres, they've failed to include any of the 900 acres of old clearcuts in the Crooked Creek Project area.
If there's enough money for timber stand improvement on more than 3,000 acres in the London District, why do they need to log Climax and Little Egypt to pay for just 281 acres of TSI? And, while the Crooked Creek Project proposes to use herbicides for TSI, the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project does not, and for the same type of work.
The Forest Service needs to hear from you that the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project needs to include areas in Climax and Little Egypt, and that there's clearly no need to log these forests to pay for timber stand improvement. Convincing the Forest Service to include Climax and Little Egypt in the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project will go a long way toward protecting these forests. Your comments to the Forest Service are an invaluable part of this effort.
The Forest Service is accepting comments until March 9, 2012.You can send or modify a form letter by clicking here or submit by postal mail to the address below. If you send your own letter via postal mail, be sure to include the project title "London Pre-commercial thinning Project" in your comments, along with your name and address.
USDA Forest Service
761 S. Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
Click here to learn more about the Crooked Creek Project and our efforts to save Climax and Little Egypt.
The Forest Service has not posted the scoping document on their website, but you can download the file below.
DETAILS: For the last year and half, you have helped us protect the forests of Little Egypt and Climax (the recharge zone for Climax spring) from the Forest Service's commercial logging plans as part of the Crooked Creek Project in the London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest.
One of the reasons Forest Service officials insist they need to log is to pay for much needed timber stand improvement (TSI) on hundreds of acres of old clearcuts in the project area. These 20-30 year-old forests, a legacy of the Forest Service's clearcut bonanza in the 1980's and 90's, are in poor shape. They are overstocked and full of stump-sprouted, malformed, and stressed trees. Using TSI to non-commercially thin these stands would release healthy trees from competition and aid the development of a much healthier forest. While the Forest Service proposes to thin just 281 of the 900 acres of old clearcuts in the project area, Kentucky Heartwood has proposed, as part of a Citizen's Alternative, that this acreage be at least doubled.
Now the Forest Service has proposed the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project to perform TSI on over 3,000 acres of old clearcuts in the London District. Despite the name, “pre-commercial thinning” does not mean that commercial logging is or will be planned for these areas. Kentucky Heartwood does not support commercial logging in our national forest.
This new proposal is great news - a move toward fixing the mess that they made. But what's not so great, is that while the Forest Service clearly has funding to thin these 3,000 acres, they've failed to include any of the 900 acres of old clearcuts in the Crooked Creek Project area.
If there's enough money for timber stand improvement on more than 3,000 acres in the London District, why do they need to log Climax and Little Egypt to pay for just 281 acres of TSI? And, while the Crooked Creek Project proposes to use herbicides for TSI, the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project does not, and for the same type of work.
The Forest Service needs to hear from you that the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project needs to include areas in Climax and Little Egypt, and that there's clearly no need to log these forests to pay for timber stand improvement. Convincing the Forest Service to include Climax and Little Egypt in the London Pre-Commercial Thinning Project will go a long way toward protecting these forests. Your comments to the Forest Service are an invaluable part of this effort.
The Forest Service is accepting comments until March 9, 2012.You can send or modify a form letter by clicking here or submit by postal mail to the address below. If you send your own letter via postal mail, be sure to include the project title "London Pre-commercial thinning Project" in your comments, along with your name and address.
USDA Forest Service
761 S. Laurel Road
London, KY 40744
Click here to learn more about the Crooked Creek Project and our efforts to save Climax and Little Egypt.
The Forest Service has not posted the scoping document on their website, but you can download the file below.
| London Pre-Commercial Thinning Scoping Document |
