lodgepole pine and occasional Douglas fir. The lodgepole stands in Section 5 of the project area 

 have resulted from stand-replacing fires followed by several lower intensity underbums. The 

 trees are over 140 years old with many having fire scars from frequent low intensity bums, which 

 took place prior to fire suppression activities. Fire acts as a cleaning agent for the forest by 

 removing fuel build-up. Since fires have been suppressed in this area for the last 80 years, fuel 

 build up in this stand has been substantial. This is also prevalent in other older stands within the 

 proposed sale area. Lodgepole stands in Sections 8 and 17 also resulted from a stand-replacing 

 event, but the trees are younger, between 60 and 80 years old. Stands in Sections 21 and 28 

 resulted from mixtures of hot and cool fires. The sites are warmer and drier than those in 

 Sections 5, 8 and 17. Development of these stands appears to have resulted by encroachment 

 onto what were probably grassland sites. These stands have remnant large-sized Douglas fir and 

 ponderosa pine trees, as well as lodgepole pine. Proposed harvests would emulate natural 

 disturbances including: 1) hot, stand-replacing fires, 2) mixed severity and, 3) cool low intensity 

 bums. To emulate a hot fire, most of the stand would be removed. To mimic mixed severity 

 bums large-sized Douglas fir and ponderosa pine would be retained and understory trees, 

 normally lodgepole pine would be removed. To simulate a cool under bum, second growth 

 lodgepole pine would be thinned using post and rail harvests. Several large units (up to 495 

 acres) would have a post and rail thinning harvest. These areas currently have approximately 

 1,000 stems per acre, composed of mostly 2 to 6 inch lodgepole pine trees. In these areas trees 

 showing the best timber characteristics would be retained at 8 to 12 foot spacing. 



Throughout this document the type of harvesting being proposed will be discussed. Management 

 of these forested tracts is based on emulating natural processes and events, usually fire, which 

 occur in a forest. This type of management does not fit very well with the classic European 

 Forestry that has been historically practiced in this area. These are cutting methods in classic 

 European silvicultural terminology, which can be cmdely analogous to the proposed harvest: 



a) Hot stand replacing fires (SR)^analogous to clearcutting. 



b) Mixed severity fires (MS)— ^analogous to seed tree or one-step shelterwood. 



c) Cool low intensity fires (LI)— >^commercial thinning. 



For the remainder of this document abbreviations and descriptions for the natural events we are 

 proposing to emulate will be used instead of the classic European terminology. 



Access to these parcels is via U.S. Forest Service, Road #4325. a BLM Low Standard Road, and 

 privately owned roads controlled by local landowners. These School Trust lands are surrounded 

 by a combination of private. BLM and U.S.F.S. land. Timber proposed for harvesfing is a 

 mixture of second growth. (60-80 year old), and mature timber (100- 140-1- years old). 



DNRC intends to manage these parcels for healthy and biologically diverse forests. This would 

 be achieved by managing toward more natural and historic stand structures and by reintroducing 

 fire, where feasible, which is a natural process that these forest types have evolved with and has 

 been basically absent for the past 80 years. The proposed harvests are designed, in part, to reflect 

 historical roles that fire played in this cover type. Lodgepole pine seedlings require full sunlight 

 and bare mineral soil to regenerate. These conditions usually resulted from hot, stand replacing, 

 fires which killed all the trees over many acres at one time creating new stands of relatively the 

 same age. This gives lodgepole pine stands a uniform appearance. The proposed management 



11 



