[Cuttnhorse]

Then why didn't a logging company apply to clean out the forested areas that were denuded by the pine bark beetle?

LOL!! You are kidding of course. You obviously are clueless how the system works.

Any attempt by a logging company to "clean out" diseased trees would be met by an apeal from some local screwball enviro group. That is if the USFS would even consider a "clean out"...the USFS is incompetent and is now made up almost entirely of employees with degrees in recreation and ecology, biology and wilderness studies. They are the first line of resistance.

But lets for the sake of argument say the USFS agrees to allow a salvage timber sale...say a couple of hundred acres. When the sale is advertised, the first thing that happens is an appeal is filed...don't forget with NEPA the USFS would have to complete an Environmental Impact Study. This normally takes the FS at least two to three years to complete.

Sounds easy, just go in and "clean out" the old dead trees...by the time it happens, if ever, the entire forest is dead.

[rintense]

It was my understanding that it isn't necessarily dead trees, bark beetles, etc. that add fuel to a forest fire, but it is more the uncontrolled undergrowth of junk trees that grow under the forest canopy. Hell, those trees are only good for pulp and mulch. Of course, from the envirowacko POV, someone will profit! Unfortunately, they don't see that the people and the environment will BOTH win by forest thinning.

[RonF]

The information I have read is that 90% of such requests clear in 60 days. And any environmental group knows that removal of diseased trees is desirable to keep the disease from spreading.

[AuntB]

Thank you. You explained it well. Did you know that a logging company in .... testing memory...Montanta, I believe pays the Forest Service $25,000.00 per year for a permit to go in a clean out burned up trees...they make log homes from them. The enviro's were trying to shut that down the last I heard. What I don't understand about the new forest plan is ALL the billions allocated to do this work, when logging companies have to lease or buy permits.