December 10, 2007
The Happy Camp Ranger District of the Klamath National Forest boasts some of the most spectacular backcountry recreation on Earth. Located along the Klamath River in between the renowned and the lesser-known but equally impressive High Siskiyou Wilderness, Happy Camp more than lives up to its name.
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Ecological balance was far from the forefront of the Forest Service's thinking when in the summer of 2007 a fire suppression crew brought in from out-of-state "fought" several smoldering lighting-started fires by punching in over twenty miles of dozer line and then "firing off" burnout operations from those lines. Indeed, far more old-growth trees were killed by the Forest Service's fire "suppression" activities than by the natural fires themselves.
Following the summer fires, at the behest of the timber industry, the Forest Service immediately started planning "salvage" timber sales above salmon-bearing streams on the steep slopes of the Happy Camp District. Intent on avoiding public scrutiny and environmental analysis of their logging proposals, the agency has refused participate in the public planning required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA.) Instead the Forest Service is writing "Categorical Exclusions" to authorize logging activity without the benefit of site-specific studies or analysis.
The small patches of dead trees (snags) created by the fires and by the fire suppression are a vital ecosystem component for forest health. The snags provide crucial habitat for a number of at-risk terrestrial species such as the Northern Spotted Owl, the Pacific Fisher and the Pileated Woodpecker. Further, the snags (and down wood) provide stability for the soils, shelter for the seedlings, and the main source of wood for in-stream fish habitat.
The healthy forests proposed for logging in the Happy Camp Salvage Sales are easily accessible from the Forest Service road system, and are nearby spectacular wilderness and river hiking opportunities.
For more information: www.kswild.org
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Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2007