A new gold rush may be on in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, but this time the treasure is burned trees to salvage for lumber.
The Rim Fire that charred a quarter-million acres of the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park over the summer left an estimated one billion board feet of salvageable dead trees—enough to build 63,000 homes. The logging industry and its supporters are racing to get it, saying such work would provide jobs in the economically downtrodden region.
Sierra Pacific Industries Inc. has started felling trees on about 10,000 acres of its land that got caught up in the inferno. Now, Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, whose district covers the area, has introduced legislation in Congress that would waive environmental regulations so salvage logging can begin quickly on the national forest as well.
“If any good can come of this tragedy, it would be the timely salvage of fire-killed timber that could provide employment to local mills and desperately needed economic activity to mountain communities,” said McClintock, a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
But Rep. Peter DeFazio, ranking Democrat on the committee, said McClintock’s bill—which was heard in a committee hearing Oct. 3—”would be a license to clear-cut the entire burn area.” DeFazio said he supports more limited salvage logging, while some environmental groups back almost none at all, saying it hurts forests by removing trees that provide nutrients for soil and habitat for wildlife.
From Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/12/california-environmentalists-logging-industry-lock-horns-over-burned-trees/?intcmp=latestnews