Lassen Forest Preservation Group

By Trish Puterbaugh

With the election of President Barack Obama we have much to be thankful for in the forest community. Since he became president, there is a decisive shift in Forest Service policy. Clinton’s Roadless Rule, under fire during the entire Bush administration, has been reinstated, protecting areas that are currently roadless. The “Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009,” approved by Congress in March, designated 2.1 million acres of federal land as wilderness — almost as much land as the 2.4 million acres designated during the entire eight years of Bush. A Democrat and Republican have introduced “America’s Wildlife Heritage Act” in Congress. This bill, aimed at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), will help reinstate the “multiple-use” principle of land management that allows resource extraction alongside recreation and habitat protection. As we know, during the Bush years the resource extraction side of the principle was heavily favored. This is also important as it will steer wind and solar arrays away from sensitive wildlife habitat and identify wildlife corridors. Thankfully, many other rules and regulations have been changed or deleted that were adopted under the Bush administration.

There are already proposals and testing for wind farms on our Lassen National Forest. Many of the proposed TANC lines and infrastructure was planned for the Lassen and North Eastern California area. Geothermal Energy will also be an issue in Lassen, as well as other National Forests. We are hopeful this new bill will protect sensitive areas from large development and resource extraction.

We are also seeing interesting studies on the ecological importance of wildfire and even severe wildfire. Respected scientists are compiling data to support conservative forest thinning, meadow and aspen restoration, prescribed fire, hardwood conservation and many other ecologically based treatments to assist the forest service in managing our forests sustainably.

The Lassen Forest Preservation Group (LFPG) continues to work with the USFS on the Lassen National Forest (LNF), monitoring each project that is introduced. I have written several times about the Creeks Project. This is a 10,000-acre project that stretches from Humbug and Humboldt summits above Butte Meadows down to Yellow Creek and Humbug Meadows. It is one of the most biologically diverse and ecologically important regions in the LNF. Yellow creek is a premier trout stream and drains into the Feather River making water quality and fisheries a huge issue in the project area. American Marten, California Spotted Owl, Northern Goshawk and very healthy populations of migratory songbirds call this region home. We have commented on numerous plans from the Forest Service and have visited the area at least 3 times yearly for 7 years. We have yet to see a plan submitted by the USFS that protects the sensitive species that live here, protects this important watershed and thins the forest to decrease the possibility of severe wildfire. We are currently in negotiations with the FS and we hope they will present a proposal we can support.

We have successfully come to an agreement with the USFS on the North 49 project in the Hat Creek Ranger District of the LNF. It is another very large project with many sensitive species present. The project will be done in stages and the results will be closely monitored.

Stephen Sayre is tracking the Travel Management Plan on the Lassen National Forest. This plan is attempting to designate specific roads and trails for Off-Highway Vehicle Travel and take an inventory of roads on the forest. The goal is to close roads that are not needed or in environmentally sensitive areas, and to monitor OHV traffic as well as general forest traffic.

There are also lots of projects pending and in progress on the Eagle Lake Ranger District of the LNF. Most of the Eagle Lake District is Eastside Pine and does not have the high number of sensitive species. It is however, a very diverse and interesting landscape. We are planning a field trip to the proposed “Ebey Project” next month. As always, we are looking for anyone interested in working with us on Forest Monitoring. If you like to get out in the forest, please come on a field trip with us to see what we do. Please call Trish Puterbaugh at 342-1641 or e-mail me at cohasset@shocking.com.

From the Summer 2009 issue of the Environmental News.