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3. 1 favor more protective management of Sequoia National Forest land proposed for 

 Preserve status, but 1 believe that more logging is appropriate than is allowed by the 

 Preserve legislation, as explained below. 



A. The proposed bill primarily concerns the non-sequoia forest land within 

 the proposed preserve boundaries. The issues concerning management and 

 protection of that land are largely the same in all of the Sierra Nevada National 

 Forests, from Plumas National Forest in the north to Sequoia National Forest in the 

 south. All of the Sierra Nevada National Forests need a more resource protective 

 management approach. As part of this planning, it must be recognized that Sequoia 

 National Forest cannot produce the type of sustained timber yields that the northern 

 Sierra Nevada forests can produce. Sequoia National Forest has less suitable, 

 productive timberland, and preservation values dominate in timbedand like sequoia 

 groves and prime viewsheds. 



B. In addition, it must be recognized that much of the area proposed for 

 preserve status has already been overlogged. Aerial photographs illustrate this well 

 at a glance. In the 1980's, Sequoia National Forest sought to maximize timber 

 harvest, which was inappropriate for the Forest's circumstances. In general, timber 

 harvest in Sequoia National Forest should be a relatively smaller percentage of the 

 multiple use emphasis than in forests like Plumas and Stanislaus with much more 

 suitable, highly productive commercial timberland. There is no question that Sequoia 

 National Forest timber harvests should be reduced from high levels in the past. 

 "Industrial forestry" approaches to maximizing timber yields are very inappropriate 

 for Sequoia National Forest, except for possible exceptional salvage circumstances 

 after major forest mortality from fire or insects. 



C. Any Sequoia National Forest timber management needs to accord with 

 ecosystem preservation. Any logging will need to focus more on thinning of 

 merchantable younger trees, salvage, and small group selection, rather than on 

 stand-wide harvests of the relatively little remaining old growth. 



D. In my opinion, some degree of logging is an appropriate use of much of the 

 land within the proposed Preserve. I believe that the proposed legislation excessively 

 restricts logging. The mixed conifer forest zone includes a lot of very virile forest that 

 tends to become overdense in the absence of the historic fire regime of frequent, 

 low-intensity fires. To me, periodic commercial thiiming and small group cutting in 

 some of these stands seems acceptable, and often desirable. That also goes for much 

 of the Sierra Nevada mixed conifer zone. In my observation, aside from steep slopes, 

 streamside zones, and some other vulnerable areas, much of the mixed conifer forest 

 zone can tolerate significant logging without damage to the ecosystem. (Logging in 

 the red fir zone is much more problematic.) I cannot supp)ort the Preserve prop>osal 



80-635 0-94-10 



