Cherokee National Forest Watauga and Unaka Ranger Districts Timber - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cherokee National Forest

Watauga and Unaka Ranger Districts

Timber Program Review

North Zone Timber Program Organization

• Keith Kelley - District Ranger
• Jim Stelick – Timber Program Manager
• Prescription Forester – Vacant 2 years – in process of hiring
• Timber Sale Administrator – Vacant 1 year – about to advertise
• Timber Marker (2)
• Chris Wilson
• Erika Hoad

North Zone Timber Program

• Harvest - Commercial sales
• Sale Prep
• Timber Sale Administration
• Silviculture treatments
• TSI
• Slashdown (contracts)
• Prescribed burning
• Site prep
• Restoration

Timber Program Direction

• Congress – annual volume requirement
• Annual volume CNF
• Average 4000 CCF / year recently
• Sustainable amount using typical practices
• 2004 Revised Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan)
• Management Prescriptions (North Zone – 23)
• Suitable: For Timber Production (7)
• 8B Early Successional Habitat Emphasis
• 8C Black Bear Habitat Mgt

Timber Program Direction

• Unsuitable – not suitable for timber production (16)
• 1A Congressionally Designated Wilderness
• 4A Appalachian Trail Corridor
• 12A Remote Backcountry Recreation – Few Open Roads
• So what does this mean for commercial opportunities on the North Zone?

Timber Program – Acres / Volume

• CNF ~ 650,000 acres
• North Zone ~ 375,000 acres
• Wilderness / Scenic: 87,719 ac
• Unsuitable land: 351,988 ac
• Suitable land: ~280,000 ac
• 43% of the land base – Suitable for Timber Production by Prescription

Timber Sale - Volume

• 2014 – 7216 ccf
• 2015 – 4356 ccf
• 2016 – 7376 ccf
• 2017 – 6215 ccf
• 2018 – 4100 ccf
• Average:

5850 ccf / yr

• Target requested: 4000 ccf / yr

National Environmental Policy Act - 1969 1969

• Required for all projects / proposals to inform the public
• Stewards of the land
• Ensure we are doing what we said we would
• Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – Forest Plan, Major Project
• Environmental Assessment (EA) – Large scale projects: Paint Creek, Offset
• Multiple year process
• Categorical Exclusion (CE) – smaller scale
• Less involved, quicker

Changing Strategy

• Unsuitable discussion
• Entering areas previously “off the table”
• Larger scale CE’s
• Farm Bill – 3000 ac - *Insect / disease / Forest Health
• Require extensive collaboration
• Category 6 – Timber Stand and/or wildlife habitat improvement

activities (less than 1 mile low standard road construction)

• No acreage limitation
• Thinning
• Prescribed burning

Changing Strategy

• CE’s continued
• Category 12 – Harvest not to exceed 70 acres, < ½ mile temp road

construction (typically used for our commercial stands)

• Farm Bill Authority
• Collaborative effort
• 3000 acre limitation
• Forest Health

Proposed Proje jects

• Cedar Gap – Farm Bill
• 2000 CCF
• Restoration of Upland Oak
• Big Creek – EA
• Early successional
• Restoration
• 10,000 CCF
• Flatwoods – Farm Bill ?
• Additional work – Non-commercial CE’s

Silviculture / Prescribed Burning

• 2149 acres TSI – vegetation improvement - 2018
• 250 acres Non-native invasive species treated **
• 1161 acres site prep burning – 2018
• 300 acres Hemlock (Wooly Adelgid)

15 Year Old Stand – TSI

Heavy Rhododendron

Regeneration Harvest

Unsuitable Slashdown

Thinning near AT

Thinning near AT

Unsuitable Rx Burn

Unsuitable Rx Burn

Commercial Thin RX Burn

Thank You!! Questions?