BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) — A tree-thinning project that intends to encourage the reintroduction of pine and conifers to an area of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest would involve the removal of grand firs.
The project is noteworthy because of an 18-year U.S. Forest Service plan which forbids the removal of live trees larger than 21 inches in diameter, something environmental groups support.
The Baker City Herald reports (http://bit.ly/HquQ9P ) the Snow Basin project would create 80 jobs: 46 in harvesting and 34 in noncommercial forest thinning.
Forest supervisor Monica Schwalbach says removing the grand firs would promote the forest’s characteristic species: ponderosa pines, tamaracks (TAM’-a-racks) and aspens.
Schwalbach says Wallowa-Whitman intends to offer five timber sales in as many years. Combined, the sales would generate an estimated 48 million board-feet of material.