Save the Duncan Canyon potential wilderness from a massive salvage logging operation!
Duncan Canyon harbors one of the two largest, most intact old-growth forest groves on the Tahoe National Forest.
Last summer in Tahoe National Forest, a wildfire swept through the Duncan Canyon old-growth forest area, home to part of the Western States Trail and a large roadless area proposed for wilderness designation. Although much of the area was severely burned, large areas were barely touched. Now the Forest Service has revealed in a scoping letter that it intends to use the fire to justify a huge salvage logging operation on more than 4,000 acres in this wild region, including helicopter logging on more than 1,000 acres within the Roadless Area. They propose to do two Environmental Impact Statements, making it more difficult for the public to take part in these critical decisions. We must stop the desecration of some of the last untouched old-growth forest remaining in the Central Sierra.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please write a letter to Forest Service with your comments on this plan, and ask them to keep the logging operations out of Duncan Canyon. Comments must be received by April 8, 2002 and should be addressed to:
Karen Jones, Red Star Team Leader
Tahoe National Forest
Foresthill Ranger District
22830 Foresthill Road
Foresthill, CA 95631
Below are some key points you might want to make in your letter:
- The Forest Service should, in keeping with the Sierra Nevada Framework requirements, base their plan on enhancing and preserving the "old forest" nature of this area. No actions that impact these values can be justified by the need to generate revenue. Restoration plans should be scaled to funds available for fuel reduction and forest restoration.
- The Forest Service should not take out any large trees (over 20" diameter). These big trees (alive or dead) are the single element of an old forest that is most difficult to replace.
- The Forest Service should, in keeping with the Sierra Nevada Framework requirements, use prescribed burns as the primary method of fuels control and move the area toward a natural fire regimen.
- The Forest Service should recognize and incorporate the habitat value of the large burned trees to the forest ecosystem. They provide foraging resources and nesting sites for many species of wildlife dependent on large snags.
- Since the Star Fire was one event, the Forest Service should NOT continue with two separate Environmental Impact Statements. This wastes taxpayer dollars, makes it more difficult for citizens to participate in the process and increases the likelihood that the plans will not be well coordinated.
- The Forest Service should NOT do commercial logging within the Roadless Area. Commercial operations, especially those driven by expensive helicopter logging, will remove the largest trees and create more of the small fuels that pose the biggest risk of fire.
- Recognizing the special sensitivity of the riparian areas, the Forest Service should use the buffers stipulated in the Sierra Nevada Framework (300 feet for perennial streams, 150 feet for seasonal).
- Hazard logging along the Western States and Tevis Cup Trials should be done with the minimum removal of trees. The actual risk of a tree falling on a person during the summer/fall season is infinitesimal. Trees that fall during the winter should be cleared each spring and the trails kept open without destroying the irreplaceable scenic value of these trails.
PLEASE WRITE YOUR LETTER RIGHT AWAY, AS THE APRIL 8 DEADLINE IS ALREADY NEAR. THANK YOU!
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Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
