BOCC receives update from USFS
Photo courtesy of USFS The 2015 Grizzly complex fire burned more than 5,000 acres in the Couer d’Alene River area.
The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met with several forest service officials and rangers Tuesday morning for an update on operations in the area.
Special guests present at the meeting were Mary Farnsworth, a forest supervisor with the Idaho Panhandle National Forest (IPNF) and Leanne Marten, a regional forester with the National Forest.
Among the topics of discussion with the BOCC was the amount of logging progress being made in the forests in the county, as well as a chance to meet Marten.
“Here in the Panhandle we have hit quite a few strides,” Farnsworth said. “We’re on schedule to deliver on our responsibilities this year. Last year we sold 63 million board feet, which is great compared to the 28 million board feet we did five years ago.”
Those numbers receive very mixed reactions from the BOCC, who see the good and the bad of the numbers considering what happened in the county to make them possible.
“The previous year the USFS harvested (cut and sent to the mill) 37 million board feet. Last year they harvested 63 million board feet. The increase was predominantly fire salvaged logs from the fires,” BOCC chairman Mike Fitzgerald said. “The burnt log harvest was unfortunately at the sacrifice of programmed (USFS scheduled) harvested logs. Because the burnt timber has a limited life prior to harvesting, the USFS shifted their efforts budget to bid programmed projects into outer years and insert the preparation of bids for the burnt logs.”
The burnt timber isn’t what they like dealing with, but the BOCC was able to see a silver lining with the situation.
“The good news is they did very well with the burnt timber. The bad news is burnt timber usually does not fetch as good a market price and may lower what the county may see off those timber sales.”
Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District ranger Dan Scaife was pleased with the work that had been done with the burnt timber, primarily near Grizzly Peak, where a forest fire destroyed thousands of acres of forest just two summers ago.
“It’s impressive how much work has been done at Grizzly,” Scaife said.
The BOCC is hoping that they can get back on the USFS’ programmed schedule.
Meetings like this one happen on an every month basis, something the BOCC does to keep current with the goings on of the USFS.
It is also imperative that they maintain relationships with the St. Joe River Ranger District since the southern part of Shoshone County is under their jurisdiction.
“We try to meet with the USFS about every other month,” Fitzgerald said. “Usually, it is the local rangers that provide us the update. Today was a bit of a bonus though. Mary (Farnsworth) brought Leanne (Marten) from the regional office in Missoula. Leanne has been on board for over a year and an introduction was much overdue.”
The next meeting is tentatively being scheduled for some time in May.