Elk Thin Photos
Comments Needed on Elk Thin Project
The Happy Camp Ranger District of the Klamath National Forest is proposing the 358-acre Elk Thin timber sale. The Elk Creek watershed is already fragmented from past logging and roadbuilding activities, and it is designated a "key watershed" for salmon recovery.
While we support one of the alternatives for the project, unfortunately, it is not the preferred alternative of the Forest Service. Please write the Forest Service and ask that they choose Alternative C, which protects forest canopy and avoids ground based yarding systems in this sensitive watershed.
Please Write Klamath Forest Supervisor Peg Boland Regarding the Elk Thin Project: comments-pacificsouthwest-klamath@fs.fed.us
Margaret Boland
Forest Supervisor
Klamath National Forest
1312 Fairlane Road
Yreka, CA 96097
Sample Letter
Dear Ms. Boland,
I am writing you concerning the Elk Thin timber sale. As you know, Elk Creek has suffered greatly from rampant logging and road building in the 1970s and 1980s. I strongly value Elk Creek for its remaining old-growth forests and for the habitat it provides for at-risk salmon and steelhead.
I urge you to do what is best for the forest, and the human users of Elk Creek, by implementing "Alternative C" which protects forest canopy and avoids ground based-yarding systems in this sensitive watershed.
I have the following specific requests:
- (1) Retain 60% canopy closure in thinned stands; (2) Retain all old-growth trees and forest stands; and (3) Avoid ground-based tractor yarding.
- All so-called "Hazard Trees" to be felled along roads in the Late Successional Reserve should be felled and LEFT ON SITE so as to provide for down woody debris and nutrient cycling.
- This is a Key Watershed for Salmon recovery and serves as a municipal water source, so the Forest Service should use this opportunity to decommission some of the vast network of logging roads in the watershed.
Thank you for considering these comments,
Your NameFor more information and photos, visit:
http://www.kswild.org/TimberSales/elkthin/
