Hey No-Cutters, This is very illuminating information from Bob Wolf who is a forest economist affiliated with the Society of American Foresters. It contains some excellent statistics regarding the current and projected commercial timber sale base, historical (peak 80s years and more recent 90s figures) logging and roadbuilding levels and their relative economic costs and losses. It is very interesting to note that Wolf specifically mentions to Sec. of Agriculture Ann Veneman that gutting the roadless plan will be a big boost to our efforts to end the entire timber sale program altogether. Clearly, our economic approach has paid off but I would like to see Bryan and Ray's comments on Bob's assessment and how we might be able to use this to our advantage in the coming year. Hope this helps, Jake X-Sender: jen@mail.wildrockies.org Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 10:23:53 -0700 To: Montana-Roadless@vortex.wildrockies.org From: Jen Ferenstein Subject: Fwd: Roadless Plan Sender: i thought this info from bob wolf might be quite useful Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 12:43:55 -0400 From: bobwolf This is what I sent Sec, Veneman and B-C Bob Wolf A Why The Roadless Area Conservation Plan That Avoids Roading 58 Million Acres Is A Sound Conservation And Financial Decision. I can't think of a better way to totally energize the groups that want to stop timber cutting on the National Forests than to gut the Roadless Area Conservation Plan. Opposition to the Plan is based on a "Shoot First - Aim Later" approach to the facts. 1. In the 7 years, 1992-1997, The Timber Industry rejected 25% of the 28.6 billion Board Feet the Service Offered to it. The rejected 7.1 bil BF was to be cut from the 49,463,000 acres already designated for logging. MBF's Rejected Percent Rejected MBF's Offered Region 1 239,000 10% 2,383,300 Region 2 422,000 28% 1,534,700 Region 3 497,000 46% 864,200 Region 4 801,000 37% 2,173,200 Region 5 1,428,000 33% 4,282,600 Region 6 1,023,000 20% 5,177,700 Region 8 1,091,000 19% 5,894,400 Region 9 300,000 7% 4,302,000 Region 10 1,399,000 72% 1,944,800 --------------------------------------------------------------- All Regions 7,100,000 25% 25,557,400 Nothing is to be gained by roading and logging the inferior timber acres not in the 49,463,000 acres that are rated "Suitable For Timber Production". 2. On the 9 Idaho Forests Industry rejected 28% of the Offered timber, 697 Million BF in these 7 years. MBF's Rejected Percent Rejected MBF's Offered Targhee 143,000 77% 186,400 Sawtooth 63,000 64% 99,100 Caribou 33,000 42% 29,200 Boise 264,000 36% 726,900 Salmon-Challis 29,000 33% 88,500 Payette 79,000 17% 458,500 Nezperce 23,000 16% 143,600 Clearwater 40,000 15% 266,800 Idaho Panhandle 23,000 5% 474,100 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Total 697,000 28% 2,513,100 This raises the question, "Should you Offer more timber when Industry has rejected so much timber?? The Goal Should Be Getting The 380,000 Miles Of Existing Roads in Shape - Not About Locking Up Lands or Unlocking Lands That Can't Sustain Development and Roading. What Does The Logging Program Tell Us? The peak National Forest logging years were the 7 years 1984-1990. Sales logged 6,102,000 acres 12% of the 49,463,000 acres "Suitable For Timber Production" - a 58 year rotation,-unsustainable by any standard. Clearcutting was the preferred cutting system. In the more recent 7 years, 1993-99, sales logged timber on 3,739,000 acres of the 49,463,000 acres rated "Suitable For Timber Production". The cut was 33,230,090 MBF, averaged 4,747,156 MBF a year. This 534,000 acre per year cut is 60% of the 857,000 acres that were being cut yearly in the 7 peak years but still represents a 93 year rotation schedule, which may not be sustainable. The 380,000 Mile Road System. The National Forest Road System is 380,000 miles, most of which was built to log timber sales in the 30 years, 1960-1990. Construction was financed mainly by reducing the price timber purchasers pay for timber by several Billion dollars to cover their estimated cost to build these roads . The FS never tracked its cost to either design or finance the building of these roads. In order to achieve even the smaller cut since 1992, and solely to get out this cut, this is the timber road mileage in the Timber Sale Program and Reporting System (TSPIRS) 1992-1998. Miles Appropriation Funded New Roads 153 PRC Funded New Roads 3,810 ------------------------------------------- Total New Roads 3,963 Appropriation Funded Reconstruction 1,417 PRC Funded Reconstruction 15,647 ------------------------------------------- Total Reconstruction 17,064 81% of Miles Rebuilt Grand Total 21,027 Miles Appropriation Funded 1,570 7% N.A. Miles PRC Funded 19,457 93% $23,000/mi.* --------------------------------------------------------------- Recapitulation 21,027 "*" Purchaser Road Credits only, excludes any FS appropriation funds. Gravel roads normally last 30 years. This varies by region, soil type, frequency of use, and rate of maintenance. Road maintenance funding has continually been insufficient to adequately maintain this 380,000 mile System. Timber road maintenance relies largely on timber to fund it. The FS reduces its timber price to finance road building. The FS also reduces the price of timber sold to cover the purchaser's estimated cost to maintain roads used while logging a sale. The FS also makes an additional timber price reduction to cover a payment the purchaser makes to the FS for it to restore the road after the sale is completed. This system reduces the purchaser's incentive to leave the road in satisfactory shape when logging is completed. The amount (called "Cooperative Road Deposit") may not cover the FS's "shape-up" maintenance cost. Because appropriated funds for annual road maintenance are inadequate, unused timber roads deteriorate. When the next sale needs these roads, the FS reduces the price of the timber to cover its reconstruction. Much of this reconstruction occurs because annual maintenance wasn't funded. The system rewards waste!! The Road Maintenance appropriation was always far less than what was needed to maintain the constantly expanding road system. This is readily apparent when one looks at the 7 years, 1992-1998, to ascertain the number of miles of logging roads that had to be rebuilt for each new mile of road constructed to run the smaller timber sale program. For these 7 years the FS rebuilt 4 miles for each new mile built. The ratio of rebuilt miles to new miles was 2.3 miles rebuilt for each new mile in 1992 and 11.3 miles rebuilt for each new mile in 1998. R-1 | R-2 | R-3 | R-4 | R-5 | R-6 | R-8 | R-9 | R-10| U.S. 1992 1.5 | 2.0 | 9.8 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 2.3 1993 2.6 | 1.5 | 5.0 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 3.0 1994 5.9 | 1.8 |40.0 | 1.2 |27.0 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 3.0 1995 10.0 | 3.3 | 9.0 | 2.1 | 9.6 | 5.6 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 4.1 1996 8.6 | 3.4 | * | 5.8 |13.5 | 7.0 | 8.9 | 6.8 | 1.0 | 6.0 1997 15.2 | 8.8 | * | 3.2 |13.1 |10.3 |12.1 |13.1 | 1.2 | 6.8 1998 16.1 | 7.8 |18.0 | 4.2 |17.5 |13.1 |16.2 | 4.0 | 7.4 |11.3 "*" = --------------------------------------------------------------- none Ave. 5.0 | 3.2 | 8.9 | 2.4 | 9.6 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 4.3 The real and growing need is to rebuild existing roads if you hope to get out even a 5 billion BF cut. This is a compelling reason for keeping the timber program on no more than the 49,463,000 acres now rated "Suitable For Timber Production". The "Lock-Up" Allegation is Groundless. The "Roadless" policy applies to 58 million currently unroaded acres. 30 million acres never had timber on it!!! The proposed policy is based on the sound idea of getting the current 380,000 mile Road System in shape. It is rooted in the sensible idea of avoiding adding roads while the present system continues to deteriorate. The reality is the whatever timber is on the part of the 58 million acres that has trees is of low value. These lands have been roadless for over Two Centuries with no harm to the Republic. The Tongass is a classic example of a Forest that meets the "used car salesman" test - the guy who claims "I lose money on every sale, but make it up on the volume." GAO reports show that for the 6 years, 1992-1997, the Tongass lost $141,977,398 (omitting county payments), logging 45,006 acres to cut 1,418,866 MBF. In achieving this loss the Tongass built 787 new miles and rebuilt 532 miles, total 1,319 miles. 96% of these miles were Purchaser Road Credit work for which the FS gave the companies $81,958,069 worth of timber, which was a cost of $64,695 per mile. This cost excludes the appropriated funds used to design, engineer and inspect roads and the appropriated money provided to build an additional 4 miles of logging road and rebuild 48 miles of existing logging roads. The 28,289,000 "Timber" Acres That Was Excluded From Plans In 1976 Is Largely Marginal and Money-Losing to Log. Look as the Forest Plan Timber Acreage Record. At their peak, in 1975, Forest Plans counted: Timbered Acres 1. Total Acres in Plans 77,752,000 2. Marginal 18,604,000 ------------------------------------------ 3. Standard and "Special" 59,148,000 Current Forest Plans 49,463,000 ----------------------------------------- Difference 9,685,000 Even now 4 Forests in the current 49,463,000 acre "Suitable" base cut timber but have ZERO acres rated "Suitable For Timber Production". Another 14 Forests with 4,819,000 acres rated "Suitable" can grow only 16 cubic feet of industrial wood annually. These acres not only fail the "Commercial Forest Land" test (20 cubic acres of annual growth), but also are perpetual money-losers with small cuts. Continuing road-building for timber sales on these 18 Forests makes neither silvicultural nor financial sense. Extending road-building for timber sales into either the 9,685,000 timber acres removed when current Plans were adopted or, even worse into the added Marginal 18,604,000 acres in old Plans, is a certain route to increased "deficit forestry". Timber Sales On 83 of 109 Forests Now Lose $200,000,000 A Year! GAO made 2 Timber Sale Cash Flow Reports that relied on part of the total cost of making timber sales. Excluding the cost of County Payments the 6 years 1992-1997 shows 83 of the 109 Forests - logging 2,506,000 acres of forest land ostensibly "Suitable For Timber Production" - ran over $1 billion "in the red". (GAO 95-237FS & 99-24) The Roadless Area Plan is a financially sensible way to move toward more rational cost-effective forest road and timber resource management. There should be no mistake about the reality of the timber program. The challenge the Department faces is managing timber sale losses on the 49,463,000 acres on the 109 Administrative Forests. There's no sound reason to try to push sales into the few million timbered acres that are Roadless and outside the current 49,463,000 acres in the logging base. To the contrary, the need is to regear the timber program so that it is more cost-effective by controlling losses. The savings, plus additional appropriations that should be sought, are needed to cut the costs from road failures and continuing a 380,000 Road System that is bigger than needed for effective management. The priorities, which are consistent with the FS' proposed Road Policy, ought to be: 1. Determination of which of the 380,000 System miles, and their bridges, should be kept for either regular or intermittent use. 2. FUND THE ANNUAL MAINTENANCE of roads and bridges to be regularly used for timber sales, other public and administrative use. 3. Temporarily close roads not needed for regular use, but needed for future or emergency use. Provide for their maintenance. 4. Schedule the reconstruction of roads and bridges to be kept in the System. Fund this work with appropriated money. This will increase timber sales flexibility and silvicultural work where a timber sale isn't the answer. 5. Use a cost-effective and environmentally sound way to eliminate roads and bridges found surplus to public use and management needs. Set a schedule for funding this work. 6. Put this all together in a locally published Forest Road Plan, by Forest, so that the public has a clear picture of the existing road system, the system that will emerge and the resource programs roads will foster. The law provides that the Secretary, "MAY sell, at not less than appraised value, trees, portions of trees or forest products located on National Forest System lands." (emphasis added) You are not commanded to sell timber. Cancelling the Road Plan will lead to the assumption that the 28,289,000 wooded acres in the 58,000,000 unroaded acres will be committed to road building and logging. Critics will attack you on under the theory that you will do what common sense will tell you not to do. Your 109 Forest Supervisors have far higher road and timber sale priorities than embarking on ventures that add to problems, while leaving real needs unmet. If you want to assist the fund-raising efforts of those who don't want timber cut from the National Forests - junk the Road Plan. I hope you find this useful as you seek to promote good resource management while helping the President avoid monetary drains that evaporate his chance to reduce the National Debt and reach his priorities. Robert E. Wolf Fellow, Society of American Foresters. A Lotus 3.0 file is attached documenting the 1992-1998 road program for the 109 Administrative National Forests. [Road7yr.wk3] The road miles are from TSPIRS and the Purchaser Road Credit is from FS ASR 13-1 Statement of Receipts. Also attached file (GAO99174.wk3) summarizes the offered-sold-rejected volumes for 1992-1998 by Regions and for the 9 Idaho Forests. 3245 Lloyd Bowen Road, St. Leonard Md, 20685-2411 410-586-1767 FAX # 410-586-2208. Email bobwolf@chesapeake.net [roadplan.doc] Mar. 17, 2001 Content-Type: application/vnd.lotus-1-2-3; name="Road7yr.wk3" Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Road7yr.wk3" Content-Type: application/vnd.lotus-1-2-3; name="Gao99174.wk3" Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Gao99174.wk3" Jennifer Ferenstein Montana Environmental Information Center 114 West Pine Missoula, MT 59802 phone and fax (406) 721-3589 [] Road7yr1.wk3 [] Gao991741.wk3