YellowSub1962
01-23-2002, 09:40 PM
Published Sunday, Jan. 20, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News
When is a `dead' tree dead?
U.S. FOREST SERVICE ACCUSED OF SKIRTING RULES ON LOGGINGBY SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Political and scientific angst over forest health, wildfire threats and the effect of salvaging dead trees is spurring new debate in the Sierra Nevada over a seemingly simple question: When is a dead tree dead?Stricter federal standards recently adopted for more than 11 million acres of national forests in California require loggers to leave behind many of the biggest green trees and some dead ones to help forests regenerate.But the rules waive some protections when wildfires kill 75 percent to 80 percent of the trees in an area.Environmentalists who have blocked a proposed salvage logging operation near Storrie, Calif., accuse the Forest Service of exaggerating the number of trees killed in a 45,000-acre fire there two years ago. They sa! y the standards are rigged to count many living trees as dead.Critics say the agency is wrong to conclude that a tree qualifies as dead if 65 percent of its crown is scorched. They say many pines and firs survive 80 percent to 90 percent scorching, and some independent scientists agree.Forest Service officials admit that estimating the probability a tree will die is an inexact science. But they are confident about the standards being used in the Storrie fire area, 80 miles west of Reno near Lake Tahoe.``We believe we have 75 percent mortality. Some of these trees have green needles, but they are dead,'' said Ed Cole, Forest Service supervisor for the Lassen National Forest, where the bulk of the salvage project is planned.Forest Service officials say more important than the condition of the crown is the inner skin, the cambium, which works as a tree's circulatory system, he said.``You can fry the cambium and not even scorch the canopy and if the cambium is fried, the tree is! dead,'' Cole said.``It may not happen overnight,'' Forest Service regional spokesman Matt Mathes said, ``but the tree will die.''Environmentalists accuse the agency of exploiting the exemptions to remove more than dead trees.``It doesn't say dying. It's trees that are actually killed -- not may die, not dying, but dead,'' said Chad Hanson of Grass Valley, director of the John Muir Project, one of the groups that won an appeal temporarily blocking the salvage project because the effect on the California spotted owl wasn't fully documented.Scientists say many variables determine whether a burned or damaged tree will die, from crown survival, cambial condition and root regeneration to climate, geography and the species of tree.``It's a judgment call,'' said Bob Wood, an entomologist at the University of California-Berkeley.``Both sides can argue for a long time about what is going to live or die based on various thresholds. I'm sure that many trees with 65 percent crown scorch! die, but many don't,'' he said.
:usa:
When is a `dead' tree dead?
U.S. FOREST SERVICE ACCUSED OF SKIRTING RULES ON LOGGINGBY SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Political and scientific angst over forest health, wildfire threats and the effect of salvaging dead trees is spurring new debate in the Sierra Nevada over a seemingly simple question: When is a dead tree dead?Stricter federal standards recently adopted for more than 11 million acres of national forests in California require loggers to leave behind many of the biggest green trees and some dead ones to help forests regenerate.But the rules waive some protections when wildfires kill 75 percent to 80 percent of the trees in an area.Environmentalists who have blocked a proposed salvage logging operation near Storrie, Calif., accuse the Forest Service of exaggerating the number of trees killed in a 45,000-acre fire there two years ago. They sa! y the standards are rigged to count many living trees as dead.Critics say the agency is wrong to conclude that a tree qualifies as dead if 65 percent of its crown is scorched. They say many pines and firs survive 80 percent to 90 percent scorching, and some independent scientists agree.Forest Service officials admit that estimating the probability a tree will die is an inexact science. But they are confident about the standards being used in the Storrie fire area, 80 miles west of Reno near Lake Tahoe.``We believe we have 75 percent mortality. Some of these trees have green needles, but they are dead,'' said Ed Cole, Forest Service supervisor for the Lassen National Forest, where the bulk of the salvage project is planned.Forest Service officials say more important than the condition of the crown is the inner skin, the cambium, which works as a tree's circulatory system, he said.``You can fry the cambium and not even scorch the canopy and if the cambium is fried, the tree is! dead,'' Cole said.``It may not happen overnight,'' Forest Service regional spokesman Matt Mathes said, ``but the tree will die.''Environmentalists accuse the agency of exploiting the exemptions to remove more than dead trees.``It doesn't say dying. It's trees that are actually killed -- not may die, not dying, but dead,'' said Chad Hanson of Grass Valley, director of the John Muir Project, one of the groups that won an appeal temporarily blocking the salvage project because the effect on the California spotted owl wasn't fully documented.Scientists say many variables determine whether a burned or damaged tree will die, from crown survival, cambial condition and root regeneration to climate, geography and the species of tree.``It's a judgment call,'' said Bob Wood, an entomologist at the University of California-Berkeley.``Both sides can argue for a long time about what is going to live or die based on various thresholds. I'm sure that many trees with 65 percent crown scorch! die, but many don't,'' he said.
:usa: