139 



understanding of the devastation faced by a family who put their blood, sweat and tears into their 

 business, only to discover that the Forest Service found it more convenient to stop selling timber 

 than to meet the covenant they made with the public in implementing the Black Hills forest plan. 



The history of small business in the Black Hills is a story of an uphill battle against fire, hostile 

 takeovers and sadly, broken promises from an agency that time and time again has ruled in favor 

 of a few large companies, at the expense of many small family owned mills that used to exist 

 in the Black Hills. 



Today, we stand on the brink of seeing the last of those small family mills driven from business 

 by the U.S. Forest Service and one or two other companies who also struggle to survive the ever- 

 changing estimates of how much timber can be produced on the Black Hills National Forest 



Since the Black Hills Forest Reserve was established in 1897, the US Forest Service, the forest 

 industry, and the people of the Black Hills have taken a burned over forest and increased the 

 number of trees to the point it is today In 1897 the estimated standing timber in the entire forest 

 of the Black Hills was: saw timber 1.5 billion board feet; other material 13,360,000 cords.' 



Since that time, the National Forest has grown to nearly 1.236 million acres (nearly 5% more 

 land than existed in the previous forest plan) and has the capacity of producing in excess of 1 54 

 billion board feet of saw timber and post & poles over the 10 year life of the plan Inventories 

 being completed in preparation for the revision of the forest plan indicate the net growth on the 

 forest has increased rather than decreased. 



Hiis Forest Plan Must Be Open to Public Review 



As early as 1989, the Black Hills National Forest had inventory data showing increased volume 

 on the forest, this would suggest an increase in allowable sale quantity in the forest plan rather 



Sawmills of the Black Hills, Martha Linde 1984. 



5 



