located along the west boundary of State ownership. Even with the existing screen, portions of 

 the cutting unit and new road construction road would be visible. Because of the close proximity 

 to the county road individual stumps, skid trails and landings would be visible. This particular 

 timber stand is lodgepole pine that is infested with mistletoe that was thinned approximately 25 

 years ago by the Bureau of Land Management. Portions of clearcuts in Section 5 and 17 would 

 be visible from the county road and would stand out in contrast to adjacent second growth stands. 

 Depending on how much money and manpower, which is available, as well as weather 

 conditions, some of the clearcut and selective harvest units would be burned to promote 

 regeneration and reduce fuels. These units would stand out in contrast to adjacent timber 

 modifying the view shed. 



New Roads 



Under the action alternatives the amount of new road construction varies from 4.38 to 5.06 miles. 

 There is also additional reconstruction and use of temporary roads. New construction would be 

 intermittently visible within all of the sections either by traveling on the road itself or as a linear 

 change in texture. Road visibility would be a function of topography, on flat slopes very little 

 changes would be noticed. While on steeper hillsides the road cutslope would be visible. 



Post and Rail Harvesting 



Alternatives B, C, and D all propose to harvest second growth lodgepole pine through thinning, 

 mimicking either a low intensity or mixed severity fire. In small patches, where dominant 

 second growth trees are not of sufficient health to respond to additional growing space, small 

 patches. <5 acres each, would have all of the trees removed. These small openings would not 

 exceed 10 percent of the entire unit. Impacts to the visual resource would involve a slight change 

 in the texture visible from the county road and Black Pine Lookout along with occasional small 

 patch openings. Thinning would also change the texture from fine to coarse. Roads associated 

 with this harvesting would generally not be visible and are not anticipated to impact the visual 

 resource. It would take 15 to 20 years from the canopy of these stands to grow back together and 

 return to their current fine-grained texture. 



Vegetation 



Old Growth Habitat 



Alternative A & D 



Direct and Indirect Effects: 



Without harvest, decadence would continue to increase in lodgepole stands. Eventually, stands 

 would likely succumb to a stand-replacement fire, or extensive insect infestation. Mature 

 lodgepole in Section 5 contains some trees with fire scars, indicating that cool underbums have 

 occurred in the past. However, given the large amount of dead material and ladder fuels 

 currently present, it is not likely that a fire would remain on the ground and result in a cool 

 underbum. It is not likely that lodgepole stands would be retained as old growth long into the 



104 



