Upcoming GMUG's Draft Forest Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Love trees and forests? Then we encourage you to participate in the upcoming 90-day comment period for the GMUG's Draft Forest Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Forest Service will publish the draft revised forest plan and draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Friday August 13th, 2021. This will initiate a formal 90-day comment period that will conclude on November 11th, 2021.
While it is one of the GMUG's multiple uses, timber cutting can adversely affect many national forest resources, including the other four multiple uses. Timber cutting often requires road construction, which fragments wildlife habitat and can cause problems for watershed health. During plan revision, the GMUG must thoroughly consider what lands could be suitable for timber production, eliminating lands that are more valuable for their ecological, recreational, and other values. Unfortunately, the GMUG's Working Draft Forest Plan recommended a significant increase in suitable timber areas.
We're not the only ones concerned with the direction the GMUG is going in their revised Forest Plan. A July letter from Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray, and San Miguel Counties to the GMUG stated "concern" with: "A significant increase in suitable timber, which is a designation that interferes with consideration of responsible management of the forests that allow uses other than timber production and the lack of a timber management analysis that prioritizes wildfire mitigation to protect critical infrastructure including watersheds." The letter concluded: "We strongly oppose the substantial increase of suitable timber proposed in this pre-Draft Plan."
Our forests are challenged by drought, climate change, pollution, and many other factors. The objective of any timber harvest should be to promote resiliency for future forests and the ecosystem services they provide.
