We have been deluged by responses to Barry Wynsma's thoughtful essay on Forest Service leadership - or the lack thereof. Provided here is some feedback on the essay.
W.V. "Mac" McConnell writes from Florida. He is a U.S. Forest Service retiree whose Power Point presentations have appeared on our website many times. His latest efforts are nearby: an updated version of his earlier "Timber Resource Management" Power Point and a fascinating photograph, "One Landscape: Four Views," that shows what is happening on adjacent public and private forests at Deep Creek, near Townsend, Montana.
Editor's comment concerning Mike Petersen's (Executive Director - Lands Council) Response To Dr. Tom Bonnicksen's Essay, "Death Of A Forest: Why We Should Care"
Of the lands burned, 10,000 acres were in the Boulder Creek Wilderness Area and most of the other 6,000 was Late Successional Reserve, Inventoried Roadless Area and Spotted Owl habitat. This picture, taken 11 years after the fire, is the view from the road looking into the LSR Roadless Area. The fire-dependent brush is 4 feet to 8 feet tall, concealing much of the fallen dead wood. D espite the density of snags and extreme volume of dead wood over thousands of acres — all fuel for future fires — no wood was removed. S everal years after the fire, plans to replant were scrubbed due to extreme overhead hazard of hundreds of snags per acre. A ll scientific and fire models predict extreme fire hazard within and beyond the entire fire area. This scene sparked Communities for Healthy Forests into action.
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