Kentucky Heartwood
  • Home
  • News and Events
    • Forest Blog
    • Music Festival 2022 >
      • Music Festival Pics
    • Newsletters
    • Past Events >
      • Stonecoal hike
      • Hemlock volunteer days
      • Red Hickory and Herbal Medicine Hike
      • Red Hickory Hike April '22
      • Music Festival 2021
      • Bat Meter Deployment Field Trip 2021
      • Virtual Membership Meeting 2021
      • The Three R's with Davis Mounger
      • White fringeless orchid mural
  • Forest Watch
    • FOIA
    • Jellico >
      • ORG COMMENTS
    • South Redbird Project
    • Blackwater (Cave Run Lake)
    • Red River Gorge
    • Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project
    • Greenwood
    • Pisgah Bay Project
    • Climax & Little Egypt >
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2011
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2010
    • Upper Rock Creek Logging >
      • Rock Creek Hike, November 2009
  • Issues
  • Donate
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • Links
  • About
    • Council & Staff
  • New Page

Kentucky Heartwood

We need forests we can get lost in; trees that make us gape; streams we can drink from. 
​Wild places sustain and define us; ​we, in turn, must protect them.

Forest Service lied about wildfire to approve logging significant conservation site in the Daniel Boone National Forest

8/4/2022

0 Comments

 
​Kentucky Heartwood has uncovered that the U.S. Forest Service lied about the location and impacts of a 2016 wildfire to justify logging 170 acres of unaffected forest in Long Hollow, an area of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Leslie County. The logging in Long Hollow is part of the roughly 4,000 acres of logging approved in the Daniel Boone National Forest as part of the South Red Bird Wildlife Enhancement Project.
Picture
Forest in upper slopes of Long Hollow
​In the Environmental Assessment for the project, the Forest Service states that “More than 600 acres of forest in the South Red Bird IRMA were badly damaged from wildfire in 2016 and need to be salvaged to prevent insect invasion and disease,” including Long Hollow. The agency added that “The proposed salvage treatment would remove these fire-damaged trees, which are merchantable for about 5 years after the fire, after which their value declines rapidly. A healthy unburned forest of fire-resilient species is needed to regenerate the damaged stand.”

​The Forest Service included pictures taken of burned forest adjacent to the Steeltrap surface mine to illustrate the damage. Under the plan approved by the Forest Service, most of the standing trees in the steep and landslide-prone forest will be cut.
​The problem is that Long Hollow didn’t burn. 
Picture
Forest in Long Hollow approved for logging for non-existent fire damage.
​We scouted the area in May, following review of a report from the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) that described Long Hollow as a significant conservation site. Kentucky Heartwood acquired the report through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Forest Service. The findings of the OKNP report were never included in the Environmental Assessment or other public documents related to the project. 
Picture
Forest in Long Hollow approved for logging for non-existent fire damage.
​The OKNP report stated that:
​
“The Steel Trap area (including upper Long Hollow and abutting Jesse Fork) is of significant conservation importance in the project area. The mesic forests within the upper reach of Long Hollow contained the highest density of rare and Conservation Species within the project area including occurrences of butternut, ginseng, American chestnut, Goldie's wood fern, goldenseal, and large-tooth aspen. Additionally, a new population of downy goldenrod was discovered along the disturbed ridgetop that separates Long Hollow from the Steel Trap mining site. According to the Kentucky Plant Atlas project and USDA Plants Database, it is the first time this species has been documented in Leslie County.”
​During our survey of Long Hollow we found no evidence recent fire damage. In fact, we found that this north-facing valley consists of predominantly fire-intolerant, mixed-mesophytic species. With the exception of the dry ridges, the forest includes very few oaks or other fire-adapted species. We observed a significant population of Synandra hispidula, also known as Guyandotte Beauty, which is known to be highly sensitive to fire, logging, and other disturbances. The ecological indicators of the site strongly suggest that fire has not been a major factor in shaping the forest community. 
Picture
Synanadra hispidula, also known as Guyandotte beauty, in Long Hollow.
​Further review of FOIA documents uncovered a Forest Service map showing how the Steeltrap fire didn’t burn Long Hollow. That map was among a variety of documents associated with a private 2019 planning meeting jointly organized by the Forest Service and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. That invitation-only meeting was held to explore ways that hunting groups can work together to increase timber harvest in the Daniel Boone National Forest. 
Picture
Withheld Forest Service map showing Steeltrap Fire perimeter (misdated) and areas approved for salvage logging. Purple oval and Long Hollow notation added by Kentucky Heartwood.
​While Long Hollow is a relatively small part of an otherwise massive and deeply problematic logging project, the fact that the Forest Service so blatantly lied to the public to justify even more logging in the Redbird District is absolutely shocking. Their actions are dishonest and illegal and provide yet another window into how the Forest Service is rapidly moving to turn the Daniel Boone National Forest over to the timber industry and hunting organizations. 
​Kentucky Heartwood is continuing our work to stop the South Red Bird project, preparing litigation to protect the endangered species and old-growth forests directly threatened the project. Please consider supporting our efforts to protect these special places and the species that depend on them. You can support our efforts and sign up for emails here.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    May 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    February 2012
    October 2011
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    February 2010
    November 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009

    Categories

    All
    Adventure Tourism
    Bats
    Big South Fork
    Coal
    Comment Letters
    Dance
    Daniel Boone Nf
    Dbnf
    Division Of Forestry
    Event
    Film
    Forest Council
    Forest Plan
    Forest Resource Assessment
    Fundraiser
    Great Places
    Greenwood
    Health
    Heartwood
    Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
    Horses
    Invasive Plants
    Landfill
    Litigation
    Logging
    Mountaintop Removal
    Natural Bridge
    Pipeline
    Redbird
    Robinson Forest
    Rock Creek
    State Nature Preserves
    Thanks
    Website
    White Nose Syndrome
    Ymca

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • News and Events
    • Forest Blog
    • Music Festival 2022 >
      • Music Festival Pics
    • Newsletters
    • Past Events >
      • Stonecoal hike
      • Hemlock volunteer days
      • Red Hickory and Herbal Medicine Hike
      • Red Hickory Hike April '22
      • Music Festival 2021
      • Bat Meter Deployment Field Trip 2021
      • Virtual Membership Meeting 2021
      • The Three R's with Davis Mounger
      • White fringeless orchid mural
  • Forest Watch
    • FOIA
    • Jellico >
      • ORG COMMENTS
    • South Redbird Project
    • Blackwater (Cave Run Lake)
    • Red River Gorge
    • Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project
    • Greenwood
    • Pisgah Bay Project
    • Climax & Little Egypt >
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2011
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2010
    • Upper Rock Creek Logging >
      • Rock Creek Hike, November 2009
  • Issues
  • Donate
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • Links
  • About
    • Council & Staff
  • New Page