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Just this year the Black Hills experienced three large blowdowns as a result of micro-bursts 

 resulting from thunderstorms. Although the Small Business set-aside program was triggered and 

 the agency knew they would be unable to sell all the set-aside sales they had previously 

 scheduled, the Forest Supervisor decided the salvage sales would be sold on the open market to 

 ensure those mills with the greatest capacity could bid on the sale. Some things never seem to 

 change, when in doubt help the large business mills. 



Timber-Sale Contract and Forest Service Policy Discourages Small Purehasere 



Over the years, the Forest Service timber-sale contract has become increasingly more difficult to 

 enter. Not only have they become more costly, the provisions and responsibilities have become 

 more difficult. Today, any person entering into a timber-sale contract must have two or three 

 foresters who not only know how to get the logging completed, they must understand the Forest 

 Service timber-sale contract in a detailed fashion. Even up into the 1970's, the Forest Service 

 was interested in selling timber and the end-product management that resulted from the sale of 

 the timber. Today the agency expends a tremendous amount of energy working to ensure each 

 and every provision of the contract is met. Many times fulfillment of the provision has little to 

 do with "good forest management" or completion of the logging job at hand, but more to do with 

 crossing the t's and dotting the i's of the timber-sale contract. 



Another trend which has made it increasingly difficult for small business mills in the Black Hills, 

 is the strategy of using the timber-sale contract to complete all forest management A good 

 example of this the practice was the strategy of including pre-commercial thinning in the timber- 

 sale contact. This was practiced in the 1970's and into the early 1980's. It was costly and 

 difficult for the smaller companies to deal with. Fortunately, below cost timber sales became an 

 issue, and the Black Hills was embarrassed by its record of being the most below-cost in the 

 nation. The agency found another way to complete this needed thinning, and stopped including 

 thinning requirements in the timber-sale contract. However, this has not stopped the agency from 



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