Pine Creek Project
Up to four-thousand acres of logging in London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest
Overlook on the Rockcastle River in the Pine Creek project area
Official documents for the Pine Creek Forest Restoration project can be found on the Daniel Boone National Forest website.
Keep scrolling down this page for more information, updates, documents and maps.
You can read comments that have been submitted by the public, here.
Keep scrolling down this page for more information, updates, documents and maps.
You can read comments that have been submitted by the public, here.
Kentucky Heartwood Challenges Pine Creek Project
Posted 11-30-19
On November 14, 2019, Kentucky Heartwood filed a formal administrative objection (“pre-decisional objection”) challenging the approval of the Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project on the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project (“Pine Creek project”) proposes a wide range of vegetation management activities across 45,700 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel, Rockcastle, and Pulaski Counties, Kentucky.
This complicated project has the potential to benefit some parts of forest by implementing well-thought-out restoration efforts, while degrading other areas through heavy-handed and unneeded logging operations. The Pine Creek project was originally proposed in March, 2018.
On November 14, 2019, Kentucky Heartwood filed a formal administrative objection (“pre-decisional objection”) challenging the approval of the Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project on the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project (“Pine Creek project”) proposes a wide range of vegetation management activities across 45,700 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel, Rockcastle, and Pulaski Counties, Kentucky.
This complicated project has the potential to benefit some parts of forest by implementing well-thought-out restoration efforts, while degrading other areas through heavy-handed and unneeded logging operations. The Pine Creek project was originally proposed in March, 2018.
Kentucky Heartwood was joined in their objection by the Kentucky Resources Council, and Christopher Morris. KRC has also posted the objection on their website here.
Read the entirety of Kentucky Heartwood's formal administrative objection here:
Read the entirety of Kentucky Heartwood's formal administrative objection here:
| pine_creek_predecisional_objection.pdf |
Pine Creek project comments due by September 4, 2019
August 24, 2019 update, originally published on our Forest Blog
The Daniel Boone National Forest is currently taking comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project. This is a complicated project, which proposes intensive and damaging logging on thousands of acres of forest, but also includes plans for beneficial restoration and management for rare species and natural communities. Below you will find a breakdown of the main proposed actions to help inform your comments to the Forest Service. Comments are due by Wednesday, September 4th, 2019. Directions on how to submit comments are the end of this post.
You can read our May 2018 comments to the Forest Service on an earlier draft (scoping) of the Pine Creek proposal here. Video of a presentation that we gave in Corbin in January 2019 can be found here.
You can read our May 2018 comments to the Forest Service on an earlier draft (scoping) of the Pine Creek proposal here. Video of a presentation that we gave in Corbin in January 2019 can be found here.
Large northern red oak in a stand proposed for logging in the Pine Creek project area.
Background
The Pine Creek project covers 45,700 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel, Pulaski, and Rockcastle counties. The area is centered on the lower Rockcastle River, from near I-75 to the confluence with the Cumberland River. This area includes some of the most popular recreation spots in the Daniel Boone, including Bee Rock, Rockcastle Recreation Area, Little Lick, Scuttle Hole, the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail, Pine Island Double Falls, and the Wild River segment of the Rockcastle River. The area also includes a wide diversity of forest types and rare species, including some of the best old-growth and mature second growth forests in the Daniel Boone. The Forest Service first proposed the Pine Creek project in February 2018. Since the initial proposal the agency has made some improvements, but there are still major problems that need to be addressed.
Forest proposed for logging in the Pine Creek project area.
The Bad Stuff:
Shelterwood logging on 1,300 acres for early seral habitat
Our most significant concern with the Pine Creek project is the Forest Service’s intent to log 1,300 acres for early seral habitat (young forest) using shelterwood methods (Action 1.A: Two-aged shelterwood). A shelterwood cut is a type of “regeneration” harvest where about 90% of the trees are cut. The Forest Service says that individual shelterwood cuts would be limited to 40 acres each, but some of these logging areas would be clustered to create logged areas of several hundred acres. The Forest Service originally proposed to approve an additional 2,000 acres of shelterwood harvests that would occur after 10 years (in stands managed under Action 5: Midstory removal), but has since agreed to drop logging these acres from the proposal.
Early seral habitat is important for a wide range of species. However, there are less impactful ways to create and manage for this type of habitat that are more consistent with prevalent natural disturbance regimes. For example, research from the University of Kentucky has shown that logging small, roughly half-acre patches of trees, along with light thinning around the edges (also known as “femelschlag” or “expanding gap” systems), can result in much better oak regeneration than large even-aged harvests like those proposed in the Pine Creek project. While uneven-aged and lower impact methods like expanding gap management could meet the Forest Service’s habitat and multiple-use goals, these methods don’t produce as much timber.
Shelterwood logging on 1,300 acres for early seral habitat
Our most significant concern with the Pine Creek project is the Forest Service’s intent to log 1,300 acres for early seral habitat (young forest) using shelterwood methods (Action 1.A: Two-aged shelterwood). A shelterwood cut is a type of “regeneration” harvest where about 90% of the trees are cut. The Forest Service says that individual shelterwood cuts would be limited to 40 acres each, but some of these logging areas would be clustered to create logged areas of several hundred acres. The Forest Service originally proposed to approve an additional 2,000 acres of shelterwood harvests that would occur after 10 years (in stands managed under Action 5: Midstory removal), but has since agreed to drop logging these acres from the proposal.
Early seral habitat is important for a wide range of species. However, there are less impactful ways to create and manage for this type of habitat that are more consistent with prevalent natural disturbance regimes. For example, research from the University of Kentucky has shown that logging small, roughly half-acre patches of trees, along with light thinning around the edges (also known as “femelschlag” or “expanding gap” systems), can result in much better oak regeneration than large even-aged harvests like those proposed in the Pine Creek project. While uneven-aged and lower impact methods like expanding gap management could meet the Forest Service’s habitat and multiple-use goals, these methods don’t produce as much timber.
Measuring and recording an old-growth white oak in a proposed logging unit in the Pine Creek project area.
We strenuously urge the Forest Service to drop the proposed shelterwood harvests and instead manage for early seral habitat and oak regeneration in the following ways:
1) Manage the nearly 5,000 acres of forests harvested in the project area since 1980. Many of these areas are now forests of poor quality, with prior logging resulting in conversion of oak-hickory forests to tulip poplar and red maple. Expansion and modification of “Action 6: Crop tree release” could meet the Forest Service’s goals for early seral habitat;
2) Support the existing proposal for 980 acres of commercial and non-commercial management to restore fire-adapted woodland community types (Action 2: Woodland and wooded grassland/shrubland communities);
3) Support variable thinning along certain roadsides to create early seral and edge habitat and support rare species on 280 acres (Action 9.B: Roadside thinning);
4) Consider uneven-aged management with small group selection using expanding gap or femelschlag prescriptions where the above approaches aren’t sufficient.
1) Manage the nearly 5,000 acres of forests harvested in the project area since 1980. Many of these areas are now forests of poor quality, with prior logging resulting in conversion of oak-hickory forests to tulip poplar and red maple. Expansion and modification of “Action 6: Crop tree release” could meet the Forest Service’s goals for early seral habitat;
2) Support the existing proposal for 980 acres of commercial and non-commercial management to restore fire-adapted woodland community types (Action 2: Woodland and wooded grassland/shrubland communities);
3) Support variable thinning along certain roadsides to create early seral and edge habitat and support rare species on 280 acres (Action 9.B: Roadside thinning);
4) Consider uneven-aged management with small group selection using expanding gap or femelschlag prescriptions where the above approaches aren’t sufficient.
Wood lilies (Lilium philadelphicum) require an open forest or grassland environment and are increasingly rare in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
The Good Stuff:
The Forest Service is doing a lot in Pine Creek project that we largely support, and have made some changes since their original proposal that make it better. While Kentucky Heartwood generally opposes logging in our national forest lands, this project does include some commercial thinning prescriptions that offer a reasonable approach for restoring and supporting rare and declining species and natural communities.
1) The Pine Creek project proposes using a variety of methods, including non-commercial and commercial tree removal and prescribed fire to restore upland, fire-adapted wooded grassland and shrubland communities (“woodlands”) in areas that were identified through collaborative work with the Kentucky Office of Nature Preserves, Kentucky Heartwood, and The Nature Conservancy (Action 2: Woodland and wooded grassland/shrubland communities). Most of the areas identified in the proposal for woodland management are good, or at least reasonable, choices given the specifics of the existing and historical vegetation.
Integrated with the woodland restoration is the proposed restoration of shortleaf and pitch pine communities (which were decimated by the southern pine beetle 20 years ago) through “cluster planting” of pine seedlings. Unlike prior pine restoration activities on the Daniel Boone that are more akin to plantations, “cluster planting” would restore a pine component in a manner that supports mixed species, spatially diverse stands.
2) The Forest Service added to the proposal, as a response to input from Kentucky Heartwood and others, Action 8.D, which would approve thinning of the forest along the margins of a 1-mile section of powerline right-of-way that contains good quality native grassland remnants (read about the Cumberland Barrens here). Combined with ongoing application of prescribed fire, this management would create a gradient, or “ecotone,” between the native grassland remnants restricted to the right-of-way and the closed-canopy forest adjacent to them. This approach, which leverages existing native grassland flora as indicator species and seed source, offers a viable bridge between the Forest Service’s logging mandate and legitimate ecological restoration efforts. The Draft EA states that “If this activity successfully achieves the desired habitat condition, it may be replicated along other ROWs through separate project planning.” We have been working with the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative to promote a similar emphasis at Land Between the Lakes.
3) In response to our earlier comments, the Forest Service has proposed relocating 1 mile of the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail off of Poison Honey Road and in into the forest, while also buffering trails and recreation areas from logging impacts (Action 9.D).
4) The Forest Service has also added Action 9.C to close and rehabilitate up to 23 miles of user-made trails that are negatively impacting the Rockcastle River.
The Forest Service is doing a lot in Pine Creek project that we largely support, and have made some changes since their original proposal that make it better. While Kentucky Heartwood generally opposes logging in our national forest lands, this project does include some commercial thinning prescriptions that offer a reasonable approach for restoring and supporting rare and declining species and natural communities.
1) The Pine Creek project proposes using a variety of methods, including non-commercial and commercial tree removal and prescribed fire to restore upland, fire-adapted wooded grassland and shrubland communities (“woodlands”) in areas that were identified through collaborative work with the Kentucky Office of Nature Preserves, Kentucky Heartwood, and The Nature Conservancy (Action 2: Woodland and wooded grassland/shrubland communities). Most of the areas identified in the proposal for woodland management are good, or at least reasonable, choices given the specifics of the existing and historical vegetation.
Integrated with the woodland restoration is the proposed restoration of shortleaf and pitch pine communities (which were decimated by the southern pine beetle 20 years ago) through “cluster planting” of pine seedlings. Unlike prior pine restoration activities on the Daniel Boone that are more akin to plantations, “cluster planting” would restore a pine component in a manner that supports mixed species, spatially diverse stands.
2) The Forest Service added to the proposal, as a response to input from Kentucky Heartwood and others, Action 8.D, which would approve thinning of the forest along the margins of a 1-mile section of powerline right-of-way that contains good quality native grassland remnants (read about the Cumberland Barrens here). Combined with ongoing application of prescribed fire, this management would create a gradient, or “ecotone,” between the native grassland remnants restricted to the right-of-way and the closed-canopy forest adjacent to them. This approach, which leverages existing native grassland flora as indicator species and seed source, offers a viable bridge between the Forest Service’s logging mandate and legitimate ecological restoration efforts. The Draft EA states that “If this activity successfully achieves the desired habitat condition, it may be replicated along other ROWs through separate project planning.” We have been working with the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative to promote a similar emphasis at Land Between the Lakes.
3) In response to our earlier comments, the Forest Service has proposed relocating 1 mile of the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail off of Poison Honey Road and in into the forest, while also buffering trails and recreation areas from logging impacts (Action 9.D).
4) The Forest Service has also added Action 9.C to close and rehabilitate up to 23 miles of user-made trails that are negatively impacting the Rockcastle River.
Proposed old-growth addition on slopes above the Rockcastle River.
The “Sounds Good But is Actually Underwhelming” Stuff:
The Forest Service has proposed adding 500 acres of “Designated Old-Growth” in the project area. This is good. However, the Forest Service has restricted these old-growth additions to hemlock mixed mesophytic forests below cliffline (where logging is already restricted), and neglected to allocate any upland forest communities to the old-growth management prescription. While the Draft EA points out the project area already includes 830 acres of an existing “Designated Old-Growth” prescription area, that particular area doesn’t actually include any old-growth or near- old-growth forest. Most of the best upland forests meeting, or nearing, operational old-growth definitions are being left out of the Designated Old-Growth management prescription. We wrote extensively about our old-growth concerns in our previous comments on the project in 2018, which can be read here.
The Forest Service has proposed adding 500 acres of “Designated Old-Growth” in the project area. This is good. However, the Forest Service has restricted these old-growth additions to hemlock mixed mesophytic forests below cliffline (where logging is already restricted), and neglected to allocate any upland forest communities to the old-growth management prescription. While the Draft EA points out the project area already includes 830 acres of an existing “Designated Old-Growth” prescription area, that particular area doesn’t actually include any old-growth or near- old-growth forest. Most of the best upland forests meeting, or nearing, operational old-growth definitions are being left out of the Designated Old-Growth management prescription. We wrote extensively about our old-growth concerns in our previous comments on the project in 2018, which can be read here.
Pine Creek Project: Presentation & Forum January 24, 2019
UPDATE: A video of the forum presentation is available here. We apologize for the poor sound quality.
Kentucky Heartwood comments on proposed
Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project
Update Posted May 3, 2018
Kentucky Heartwood has submitted comments to the Daniel Boone National Forest concerning the proposed "Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project". Click here for a downloadable PDF of our comment letter.
Kentucky Heartwood has submitted comments to the Daniel Boone National Forest concerning the proposed "Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project". Click here for a downloadable PDF of our comment letter.
| pine_creek_scoping_comments.pdf |
Update posted April 29, 2018
Below is a large-format, georeferenced PDF map of the Pine Creek project area created by Kentucky Heartwood using data from the United States Forest Service and other sources. In this map you can see where the Sheltowee Trace runs north/south through the project area, in addition to other trails (red lines) including at Bee Rock, Scuttle Hole, and other popular sites. Also noted on this map are forests that have been logged since 1980, and the locations of some of the oldest forests in the area (over 130 years old).
The larger file size version (21MB) has better clarity, while the reduced file size version (4MB) may be easier to download and handle. Either version can be uploaded to your GPS-enabled phone or tablet and used to navigate the project area with the Avenza Maps application. We do not warranty the accuracy of the data provided, and recommend caution and multiple map sources any time you get out in the woods.
Below is a large-format, georeferenced PDF map of the Pine Creek project area created by Kentucky Heartwood using data from the United States Forest Service and other sources. In this map you can see where the Sheltowee Trace runs north/south through the project area, in addition to other trails (red lines) including at Bee Rock, Scuttle Hole, and other popular sites. Also noted on this map are forests that have been logged since 1980, and the locations of some of the oldest forests in the area (over 130 years old).
The larger file size version (21MB) has better clarity, while the reduced file size version (4MB) may be easier to download and handle. Either version can be uploaded to your GPS-enabled phone or tablet and used to navigate the project area with the Avenza Maps application. We do not warranty the accuracy of the data provided, and recommend caution and multiple map sources any time you get out in the woods.
The map file in the reader above is high resolution. The files are also available for download, below. The _rfs is the reduced file size map.
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| pine_creek_project_map.pdf |
Posted April 9, 2018
The Forest Service has proposed yet another new, large logging project, this time proposing over 4,000 acres of timber harvesting in the London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel, Pulaski, and Rockcastle Counties. The Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project comes at the same time that the Forest Service proposed 3,200 acres of new logging in the Redbird District, and just weeks after the Forest Service proposed to loosen logging restrictions designed to protect endangered Indiana bats.
Comments on the Pine Creek project are due by May 14, 2018 (the due date was originally Monday, April 23rd). These are your public lands, and your voice matters. Directions on how to submit comments are at the bottom of this alert.
While the Forest Service signed the Pine Creek scoping letter and posted it to their website on March 22nd, they did not send out any notice whatsoever to the public. We only learned about it because we regularly check their project web pages. The Forest Service has promised to increase the scale and pace of new logging projects. But, if they’re too overwhelmed to even send out notice to the public, what does that say about their ability to properly analyze and consider the impacts of logging over 7,000 acres? What does that say about their commitment to public participation?
The Pine Creek project is a complex vegetation management project centered on the lower Rockcastle River, from near I-75 to the confluence with the Cumberland River. The area includes a wide diversity of forests and rare species, the Rockcastle wild river corridor, and some of the most popular hiking and camping areas in the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Forest Service has proposed some good management activities that we support, and some not-so-good management activities that we oppose. While we still need more time to analyze things and check conditions on the ground, below we offer our take on some of the main proposed actions to help you understand the project and submit comments.
Early seral habitat/Shelterwood logging
The Forest Service has proposed an initial 1,300 acres of logging to create early seral habitat (young forest conditions). Most of this logging will be in the form of even-aged shelterwood harvests, leaving 7 to 20 trees per acre in 40 acre patches. They also state that they plan to implement shelterwood harvests on 2,000 additional acres approximately 10 years after implementing the proposed midstory thinnings. Some proposed shelterwood logging is along the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail. The combined 3,300 acres of intensive, even-aged logging represents our greatest concerns with the Pine Creek project.
The Forest Service has proposed yet another new, large logging project, this time proposing over 4,000 acres of timber harvesting in the London District of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel, Pulaski, and Rockcastle Counties. The Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project comes at the same time that the Forest Service proposed 3,200 acres of new logging in the Redbird District, and just weeks after the Forest Service proposed to loosen logging restrictions designed to protect endangered Indiana bats.
Comments on the Pine Creek project are due by May 14, 2018 (the due date was originally Monday, April 23rd). These are your public lands, and your voice matters. Directions on how to submit comments are at the bottom of this alert.
While the Forest Service signed the Pine Creek scoping letter and posted it to their website on March 22nd, they did not send out any notice whatsoever to the public. We only learned about it because we regularly check their project web pages. The Forest Service has promised to increase the scale and pace of new logging projects. But, if they’re too overwhelmed to even send out notice to the public, what does that say about their ability to properly analyze and consider the impacts of logging over 7,000 acres? What does that say about their commitment to public participation?
The Pine Creek project is a complex vegetation management project centered on the lower Rockcastle River, from near I-75 to the confluence with the Cumberland River. The area includes a wide diversity of forests and rare species, the Rockcastle wild river corridor, and some of the most popular hiking and camping areas in the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Forest Service has proposed some good management activities that we support, and some not-so-good management activities that we oppose. While we still need more time to analyze things and check conditions on the ground, below we offer our take on some of the main proposed actions to help you understand the project and submit comments.
Early seral habitat/Shelterwood logging
The Forest Service has proposed an initial 1,300 acres of logging to create early seral habitat (young forest conditions). Most of this logging will be in the form of even-aged shelterwood harvests, leaving 7 to 20 trees per acre in 40 acre patches. They also state that they plan to implement shelterwood harvests on 2,000 additional acres approximately 10 years after implementing the proposed midstory thinnings. Some proposed shelterwood logging is along the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail. The combined 3,300 acres of intensive, even-aged logging represents our greatest concerns with the Pine Creek project.
Proposed logging area along the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail
Some of the most significant and lasting impacts relating to logging come from the log landings, skid trails, and temporary roads used to process and haul logs out of the forest under conventional forestry systems. Large log landings, ranging from about ¼ to 1 acre in size, are cleared in the forest and compacted for logging equipment and trucks. Invasive species frequently become established. The Greenwood project, with about 2,500 acres approved for logging, required 139 log landings. “Temporary roads” are bulldozed from landings through the forest, cutting across slopes and acting as vectors for invasive plant species, while remaining trees can suffer damage from felling and hauling.
Kentucky Heartwood often supports (or does not oppose) non-commercial midstory thinning, particularly in order to restore fire-adapted forest structure. However, most of the midstory thinning in the Pine Creek project aims to promote oak establishment in the understory in preparation for the next round of logging. The Forest Service could choose to approve a midstory reduction without subsequent logging, and allow turnover in the canopy to result from natural disturbance. Doing so could promote oak establishment over time while avoiding the damage caused by conventional logging. Early seral habitat is important for a wide range of species. However, this type of habitat is more sustainably created through the restoration of fire-adapted uplands and an acceptance of the role of natural disturbance in our forests.
Kentucky Heartwood often supports (or does not oppose) non-commercial midstory thinning, particularly in order to restore fire-adapted forest structure. However, most of the midstory thinning in the Pine Creek project aims to promote oak establishment in the understory in preparation for the next round of logging. The Forest Service could choose to approve a midstory reduction without subsequent logging, and allow turnover in the canopy to result from natural disturbance. Doing so could promote oak establishment over time while avoiding the damage caused by conventional logging. Early seral habitat is important for a wide range of species. However, this type of habitat is more sustainably created through the restoration of fire-adapted uplands and an acceptance of the role of natural disturbance in our forests.
Log landing in the Brushy Creek project area in Jackson County
Establishment of woodland and wooded grassland communities
The Forest Service is proposing to create or restore fire-adapted open forest and forest-grassland communities in the Pine Creek project area. Historical and botanical evidence suggest that these community types were important, and even extensive, in some parts of the project area. They plan to do this through 730 acres of commercial logging that would leave 5 to 40 trees per acre, along with another 160 acres of non-commercial felling. Implemented in the right locations with the right long-term management (particularly short fire return intervals), these natural communities can help support a variety of rare and declining plant and animal species. Most of the woodland and wooded grassland management is proposed for the southwestern section of the project area in Pulaski County, in an area that is generally appropriate for this type of management, and follows detailed discussions and field trips that included the Kentucky Heartwood, the Forest Service, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, and The Nature Conservancy. Kentucky Heartwood prefers that the Forest Service rely on natural disturbance, non-commercial felling, and prescribed fire to manage for these community types. We will need more time to examine the specific stands proposed for logging for woodland restoration in order to assess whether or not the sites chosen for logging are reasonable.
The Forest Service is proposing to create or restore fire-adapted open forest and forest-grassland communities in the Pine Creek project area. Historical and botanical evidence suggest that these community types were important, and even extensive, in some parts of the project area. They plan to do this through 730 acres of commercial logging that would leave 5 to 40 trees per acre, along with another 160 acres of non-commercial felling. Implemented in the right locations with the right long-term management (particularly short fire return intervals), these natural communities can help support a variety of rare and declining plant and animal species. Most of the woodland and wooded grassland management is proposed for the southwestern section of the project area in Pulaski County, in an area that is generally appropriate for this type of management, and follows detailed discussions and field trips that included the Kentucky Heartwood, the Forest Service, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, and The Nature Conservancy. Kentucky Heartwood prefers that the Forest Service rely on natural disturbance, non-commercial felling, and prescribed fire to manage for these community types. We will need more time to examine the specific stands proposed for logging for woodland restoration in order to assess whether or not the sites chosen for logging are reasonable.
Powerline right of way with rare grassland remnants in the project area
Rare Plants
Kentucky Heartwood has been urging the Forest Service for several years to incorporate good data, surveys, and site-specific information into projects to conserve and enhance declining and rare botanical communities that rely on open, upland conditions. Many of these specific plants and natural communities are relegated to roadsides and powerline corridors, and do not benefit from typical timber harvests. While such information was largely ignored throughout the planning and analysis of the Greenwood project on the Stearns District, there appears to be a genuine effort in the Pine Creek project to support these remnants of the Cumberland Barrens through cooperative work that includes Kentucky Heartwood and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commissions.
Kentucky Heartwood has been urging the Forest Service for several years to incorporate good data, surveys, and site-specific information into projects to conserve and enhance declining and rare botanical communities that rely on open, upland conditions. Many of these specific plants and natural communities are relegated to roadsides and powerline corridors, and do not benefit from typical timber harvests. While such information was largely ignored throughout the planning and analysis of the Greenwood project on the Stearns District, there appears to be a genuine effort in the Pine Creek project to support these remnants of the Cumberland Barrens through cooperative work that includes Kentucky Heartwood and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commissions.
Wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum), a beautiful remnant of the Cumberland Barrens
Old-Growth
The Pine Creek project area includes 830 acres of a roughly 2,200 acre Designated Old-Growth management area. However, like most Designated Old-Growth management areas in the forest, there’s little in the way of genuinely old woods included. The project area also includes another 11,000 acres of riparian and cliffline corridors that are largely excluded from logging, but represent narrow, linear features and not large blocks of forest. Kentucky Heartwood has urged the Forest Service for many years to delineate more old-growth prescription areas in an effort to conserve large sections of older secondary forest that could develop landscape-scale old-growth characteristics in coming decades. The Forest Service has proposed adding 500 acres of Designated Old-Growth in two areas within the Pine Creek project area, near Rock Creek and Angel Hollow. Both areas are good candidates, and should be designated for an old-growth emphasis in the Forest Plan. However, the additions are largely narrow zones in lower landscape positions supporting hemlock-mixed mesophytic forests, and do not include appreciable upland forests. We think that the Forest Service should expand the new Old-Growth Management areas to include appreciable upland forests. It is important to note that the Designated Old-Growth management prescription in the Forest Plan does not preclude the implementation of management activities. What is does mean is that any management that is done should be to support the development of old-growth forest ecosystems.
The Pine Creek project area includes 830 acres of a roughly 2,200 acre Designated Old-Growth management area. However, like most Designated Old-Growth management areas in the forest, there’s little in the way of genuinely old woods included. The project area also includes another 11,000 acres of riparian and cliffline corridors that are largely excluded from logging, but represent narrow, linear features and not large blocks of forest. Kentucky Heartwood has urged the Forest Service for many years to delineate more old-growth prescription areas in an effort to conserve large sections of older secondary forest that could develop landscape-scale old-growth characteristics in coming decades. The Forest Service has proposed adding 500 acres of Designated Old-Growth in two areas within the Pine Creek project area, near Rock Creek and Angel Hollow. Both areas are good candidates, and should be designated for an old-growth emphasis in the Forest Plan. However, the additions are largely narrow zones in lower landscape positions supporting hemlock-mixed mesophytic forests, and do not include appreciable upland forests. We think that the Forest Service should expand the new Old-Growth Management areas to include appreciable upland forests. It is important to note that the Designated Old-Growth management prescription in the Forest Plan does not preclude the implementation of management activities. What is does mean is that any management that is done should be to support the development of old-growth forest ecosystems.
Old-growth tulip poplar near the Rockcastle River
Shortleaf pine stand improvement
The Forest Service has proposed to restore shortleaf pine on 1,500 acres utilizing what we deem as some progressive and ecologically appropriate methods. Shortleaf pine was decimated by the southern pine beetle between 1999 and 2001. Previous approaches to shortleaf pine restoration, particularly those in the Greenwood project in the Stearns District, have relied heavily on logging healthy hardwood stands and planting pines in dense monocultures. The proposed action in the Pine Creek project would rely on noncommercial methods and planting trees in groups and interspersed with existing vegetation, better mimicking natural patterns.
The Forest Service has proposed to restore shortleaf pine on 1,500 acres utilizing what we deem as some progressive and ecologically appropriate methods. Shortleaf pine was decimated by the southern pine beetle between 1999 and 2001. Previous approaches to shortleaf pine restoration, particularly those in the Greenwood project in the Stearns District, have relied heavily on logging healthy hardwood stands and planting pines in dense monocultures. The proposed action in the Pine Creek project would rely on noncommercial methods and planting trees in groups and interspersed with existing vegetation, better mimicking natural patterns.
Big, old pignut hickory (Carya glabra) in a proposed logging unit
Prescribed fire
The project area includes 9,300 acres of existing prescribed fire units that were approved in 2014. We believe that the evidence supports the use of prescribed fire in most of these areas. The Pine Creek proposal would add another 2,400 acres of prescribed fire in the project area. Some of the new areas we already know, and we support them being added to the prescribed fire program. Some areas we still need to evaluate, but generally do not have major concerns.
The project area includes 9,300 acres of existing prescribed fire units that were approved in 2014. We believe that the evidence supports the use of prescribed fire in most of these areas. The Pine Creek proposal would add another 2,400 acres of prescribed fire in the project area. Some of the new areas we already know, and we support them being added to the prescribed fire program. Some areas we still need to evaluate, but generally do not have major concerns.
Eastern hemlock stand in Laurel county, in the Pine Creek project area
