Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Roady. Senator McClure, my name is Chuck Roady. I'm a forester for W-I Forest Products. During the past three winters, W-I has engaged in Forest Service timber sales in drainages of the Selkirk Mountains, very similar to Long Canyon. These timber sales had been set up to salvage the spruce bark beetle infested timber and to slow its advance into other areas. We were confronted with many obstacles and difficult situations in trying to remove this timber in these fragile areas. We had to work in very deep snow a short 3-month time period, as well as the restrictions of working in caribou and grizzly bear habitats. 32-427 0 - 84 5 58 However, by using advanced methods and modern equipment in building snow roads and trails, and working with the Forest Service, the department of fish and game, and other concerned wildlife people, we successfully and economically harvested these sales. W-I feel that if given the opportunity the same successful operations could occur in Long Canyon. The spruce bark beetle has advanced to some near eqidemic proportions in the spruce-Alpine fir zone of the drainage. There are at least a half dozen pockets of beetle infected trees ranging from 1 to 2 acres in size. If not harvested and the advance of the insect slowed, the beetle could, in a very short period of several years leave nothing but a myriad of spruce snags in this upper zone of the canyon. By means of a low-impact road entering from the north side of the drainage, the Smith Creek side as the sole access, Long Canyon could be opened to harvest the timber resource. By winter logging through the use of snow roads and trails, leaving the soil and undergrowth virtually undisturbed, very few scars are left on the land. The dying, diseased, and overmature trees can be harvested in a manner so as not to open up the timber stands more than is necessary for proper forest management. Through the continued cooperation of the timber purchaser and the Forest Service, W-I believes that Long Canyon could be entered.