Posted on 07/06/2002 11:57:00 AM PDT by madfly
By Mitch Tobin , ARIZONA DAILY STAR
With pressure from the University of Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service has quietly begun pruning and cleaning the forest around the telescopes atop Mount Graham.
The work, within critical habitat for an endangered squirrel, comes as UA officials worry about a catastrophic wildfire roaring through a $120 million telescope complex that environmentalists and some American Indians have fought for more than a decade.
In 1996, flames from a 6,716-acre wildfire came within 200 yards of the telescopes. As the monsoon arrives, the top of the Pinaleno Mountains, 75 miles northeast of Tucson, is regularly pelted with lightning.
The pruning operation, which also involves removing "down and dead wood" from the floor of the spruce-fir forest, began Tuesday and was expected to be completed by today, said Gail Aschenbrenner, a Forest Service spokeswoman.
"It's not a huge project," she said, "but I think it will do a lot to reduce the risk without doing any thinning or tree cutting."
The endangered Mount Graham red squirrel had been seen in the past in the area being pruned and cleaned. But the animal is not known to live there now, probably because the forest has been decimated by an insect infestation, according to a Forest Service memo authorizing the work.
The memo, signed Tuesday by Coronado National Forest Supervisor John McGee, said branches will be pruned from both living and dead trees up to 10 feet off the ground within a 200-foot perimeter of UA's Large Binocular Telescope and up to 150 feet from two smaller telescopes. Crews also will remove deadwood less than 6 inches wide that is already on the forest floor. Flammable material within 10 feet of diesel storage tanks will be raked down to mineral soil.
No trees are being cut, and no vehicles are allowed off existing roads, according to the memo.
Longtime opponents of the telescope construction gave mixed reviews of the Forest Service's decision.
David Hodges, executive director of the Sky Island Alliance, was wary about the UA "coming up with new reasons why they want to expand beyond their footprint." But he said, "If this is all they're doing, we think it's acceptable."
Hodges, however, worries about the UA's desire to take the fireproofing further by cutting down trees that surround the telescopes, which lie within Southern Arizona's only old-growth spruce-fir forest.
Dr. Robin Silver of the Center for Biological Diversity
said the pruning and cleaning were "just another example of the university wasting money," since it was leaving behind the "duff" layer of debris on the forest floor that helps fire spread.
UA and Forest Service officials, however, say this week's operation is based on expert advice from Jack Cohen, a structure protection specialist at the Forest Service's fire lab in Missoula, Mont. Cohen visited Mount Graham last week.
The pruning and cleaning are "a good first step," said Buddy Powell, associate director of UA's Steward Observatory.
* Contact reporter Mitch Tobin at 573-4185 or mtobin@azstarnet.com.
And may we ask Dr. Robin Silver of the oh-so pompous Center for Biological Diversity what, pray tell, is the difference between the frickin' "Mount Graham red squirrel" and the frickin' "Kitt Peak red squirrel", who lives next door?
Who would you trust? Our firefighters are dying
to appease leftist so-called enviromentalists with a very poor history of telling the truth.
Forest rangers know their trees. Let the pros protect the forests...and thus the wildlife within. It's time to stop appeasing the legal/enviro-terrorists and toss 'em in jail for the deadly, expensive and deceptive fearmongering.
"Hey Grandpa, what's for supper?"
"Squirrels Jubilee"
"Yum yum!"
Never mind that, what I want to know is where these lefties think the tree rats will "live" if the damn forest burns!
Do these morons ever think anything through? They want to maintain a firetrap condition, pretty much guaranteed to go up in flames at some point (probably soon, given the weather conditions), because if the deadwood was trimmed out, the tree rats might not like it?
I'd think the tree rats would like having the deadwood removed a hell of a lot better than they'd like being roasted alive!
But what do I know?
These environmental idiots successfully challenged a building development here in San Diego, where we are desperate for housing, and all because of a tiny butterfly. It seems the butterfly was native to this habitat and was "endangered".My suggestion was to take the butterfly and give it to the San Diego Zoo - where everyone could enjoy it in the butterfly exhibit.
Instead, they have kept homes from being built which were needed. It's so stupid!
It's not about saving insects. It's about preventing development. It's about hampering human endeavor. It's luddism, basically.
Gail Aschenbrenner, a Forest Service spokeswoman:
"It's not a huge project," she said, "but I think it will do a lot to reduce the risk without doing any thinning or tree cutting."
Another enviral Druid Nun playing forester at our expenses while pushing the Druid agenda of no new roads, no thinning or tree cutting.
>This typical of the lies and warped so called science of the Enviral Nazis from Hell:
The endangered Mount Graham red squirrel had been seen in the past in the area being pruned and cleaned. But the animal is not known to live there now, probably because the forest has been decimated by an insect infestation, according to a Forest Service memo authorizing the work.
This rodent, cousin to a rat, doesn't even live there. In fact the Druid Agenda of not clearing the forest has decimated the forest do to an insect infestation.
However, this rat cousin might want to come back some day.
Their real goals were to have nature or one of their arsonists start a fire and burn up these ugly telescopes that vile/evil man put on the top of this Druid Cathedral.
How would you like to work in the midst of a high desert tinder box like this situation created by the Enviral Nazis from Hell?
Sounds like they are abondoning the 'native-American' style of forest management. Good.
because environmentalist wackos, who think they know best how to take care of Mother Nature, have, instead, ruined Mother Nature's environment.
Not me. Good points here Dave, thanks for the ping.
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