137 



being able to sell upwards of 180 million board feet of saw timber per year as late as 1975. The 

 agency begged forest-products companies to locate in the Black Hills. As a result, some 

 companies did come and many of the existing companies invested heavily to modernize their 

 operations in order to take advantage of the available federal timber. 



In 1983, when the Forest Service completed the forest plan that it now operates under, they 

 projected an ability to offer 118 MMBF of saw timber and an additional 30 MMBF of post and 

 pole material for the first five years of the plan; with a commitment during the second five years 

 of the plan to offer 128 MMBF of saw timber plixs 30 MMBF of post and pole material. Many 

 companies, including a number small businesses, made substantial investments to modernize their 

 mills in order to position themselves to be able to compete for the expected 128 MMBF of Forest 

 Service saw timber. 



Several companies including Continental Lumber of Hill City, Neiman Sawmills of Hulett, R.E. 

 Linde, and Hamms Forest Products all made major investments and modernized their mills in 

 order to compete with the likes of Pope & Talbot's mill in Spearfish, SD. 



The Forest Service recognized this demand in the forest plan in its final environmental impact 

 statement on page xxxiii, when it indicated "The average annual harvest for 1975-1980 was 102 

 MMBF, but about 146 MMBF were sold annually in the same period." 



By 1988 it was very clear that the Forest Service was failing to meet its commitment to sell 128 

 MMBF of saw timber, and the agency representatives were beginning to articulate expectations 

 of reducing the Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) in future forest plan revisions. By this time, the 

 agency's saw timber offerings were more than one year behind the proposed forest plan. The 

 plan called for approximately 590 MMBF of saw timber to be sold between 1984 and 1989, and 

 the agency had only sold approximately 472 MMBF. 



Additionally, Forest Supervisor Darrel Kenops told the forest-products industry that the Black 

 Hills National Forest would not increase saw timber offerings to the 128 MMBF planned for in 

 the remaining five years of the forest plan. 



