Uinta National Forest officials say the logging they plan for Timber Mountain will be good for the area and impacts to black bear breeding should be minimal.
In response to a letter from the Timber Mountain Coalition, organized by Brigham Young University student Justin Jones, the Forest Service issued a press release Monday explaining its position in deciding to log Timber Mountain and Pole Heaven.According to the information from the service, bark beetles have been infesting the white fir and Douglas fir trees at epidemic levels in the Spanish Fork Ranger District Timber Mountain and Pole Heaven areas since 1995.
Because the Timber Mountain area was heavily logged at the turn of the century, the trees left to battle the beetles in overcrowded conditions are weak and less healthy than most.
To address the problem, Forest Service officials decided to selectively remove infested trees and those at high risk from 500 to 1,100 acres of conifer stands.
A slow broadcast burn will also be conducted to remove vegetation and add nutrients to the soil.
The prescribed burn and the logging will improve the overall health of the forest through reductions in density and insect-related mortality. Douglas fir seedlings will be planted to augment natural regeneration.
If the area is not selectively logged, Forest Service officials say, the overcrowded conditions and lack of young trees in the stands will result eventually in a fire that would take out any conifers for 20-30 years.
During the logging period, roads will be closed to the public. Only a portion of the trees will be actively harvested during the critical black bear mating season. Each year following, the existing roads to the area will be closed until July 31 to increase bear breeding security. No new roads will be constructed.
Jones maintains that the black bears, some of the largest in the country, need dense vegetation for their breeding activity. He has asked for a 90-day stay on the logging activity.
Forest Service officials released the decision of notice Aug. 17, 1996, with a 45-day response period. No appeals were received during that time. Planning began for the project in 1995 with legal notices run in local papers and information sent to interested parties.
A Spanish Fork resident, George Forsyth, who has lived and worked in the Timber Mountain area, says black bears do not require a great amount of privacy or vegetative cover to mate.
Forsyth has a picture of a pair of unabashed bears taken in 1936 behind the cook shack in Glacier National Park. "I testify bears breed like rats, pigs and any other tame animals right in front and without reservation of construction," said Forsyth in a letter to The Deseret News.