Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Tondevold. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today, I am an Orofino resident. And I'm a native of Headquarters, Idaho. And I'm just addressing a portion of the Mallard-Larkin area. This area in question is the drainage of Minnisoka and Bear Creeks which encompasses approximately 5,000 acres. Both Minnisoka Creek and Bear Creek have good healthy stands of timber in them that should be harvested to enhance growth of remaining stands. The terrain conditions in this area range from rocky steep bluffs on the breaks of the Little North Fork to gradual slopes from the midbasin to the headwaters. Few intermittent streams fork off of Minnisoka Creek, but would not cause soil or water problems if logging seasons and road building activities were limited to dryer months. The road systems have been surveyed by the Forest Service to the main ridge north of Minnisoka Creek and could some day be extended into Bear Creek for future needs. Two system roads have been laid into the Minnisoka Basin from the 700 road or Smith Ridge Road system. These roads present little or no problem to water and soil standards if grades are limited to what is actually there on the ground and if roads are surfaced soon after being constructed. The timber that covers this area is thick and reaching maturity. It needs a sanitation cut or precommercial thinning. The cutting prescription wouldn't need to be clear cut blocks to achieve regeneration in the majority of the area. Although some small areas have old stagnated white pine and hemlock stands with brush already competing with reproduction. These blocks should be clearcut and replanted. All of the white pine in the area has a high percentage of mortality and should be removed earlier for better recovery. The higher percentage—the higher per cent of slope is going to determine system of logging with the majority of this being in long and short line chances because of the nature of the terrain. There should be, however, some ground skidding units laid out on the flat ridges and flats throughout the plan area. Log transportation system could come through two different routes. The first one being over the existing roads to Headquarters to Orofino. The second area is still in the planning stages but should be considered. It would use the same roads within Minnisoka area out the 700 road, down to the new proposed Salmon Ridge Road which would access a new log dump site on the Dworshak at Milk Creek. This would, no doubt, help the plan area's ap535 praisal and thus put more moneys back into the site. Something else this sale would do is to help limit the costs at Milk Creek. There would be very little or no adverse effects of logging this area upon the Mallard Larkin Pioneer Area. There is small amounts of elk sign in the area with only one major game trail that crossed proposed road profiles. There was old signs of beaver dams in Minnisoka Creek. In summary, this site is a good timber growing site and should be managed as such. I would recommend that this area mentioned be designated multiple use and the boundary for the Mallard Larkin Pioneer Area remain where it is.