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reasonable return of tax dollars to our local treasuries to compensate for the dearth of 

 private land in our area. The Black Hills National Forest is one of the most intensively - 

 used National Forests in the country. In the past the Forest Service has done an excellent 

 job of protecting our access to the Forest, of maximizing the uses of the Forest, and of 

 protecting the forest enviroimient itself. 



We are extremely luck that our ponderosa pine regenerates naturally and prolifically in 

 shade, eliminating the need for clearcut methods of harvesting. Because we can select cut, 

 many visitors to the area are imaware that the Hills are logged unless they happen upon a 

 recently harvested area. Logging has, however, been used as the primary tool to create the 

 beautiful forest that we have today. 



I am very disturbed, then, by indications that our revised Forest Plan may reduce the 

 amount of timber to be harvested. This is not a National Park, created solely for the 

 enjoyment of people and the protection of wildlife. It is not a Wilderness area, created for 

 solitude and naturalness. It is a National Forest, created for 'a continuous supply of timber" 

 and for a perpetual forest, and dedicated to conmiunity stability. Yet it seems that it, like 

 many of our other National Forests, is being managed more and more as an old-growth 

 preserve, a non-motorized recreational preserve, and a wildlife preserve, to the detriment of 

 sensible forest management 



Our wildlife is healthy and populations are a higji levels. There are more elk and turicey in 

 the Hills now than have been present within living memoiy. Pine marten reintroduction has 

 been successful Althougji deer populations are not quite at record levels, they are causing 

 problems by invading lawns in Rapid City and roadsides where grass is prevalent. I believe 

 that this problem is caused by the state of our Forest, which is currently in a 'cHmax' stage. 

 There are too few openings, and too many places where the forest canopy is closed, 



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