Volume 15, Number 2
Summer 2003

I'll always recall the sound of ice on the Selway. This past November, during the coldest snap yet in a very mild and low-moisture winter for this area, I saw deep pools of the Selway ice over up to a foot thick in a matter of days. The Selway River, ostensibly protected as the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, still has dark emerald holes that seem to me to be well over 30 feet deep, maybe much more. When ice gathers on the surface and begins to move with the river flow, the eerie sound is otherworldly, like the cry or groan of the banshee.

All is not quiet elsewhere in this region, ice movement aside. Several proposals by the US Forest Service will affect the remarkable unprotected wildlands of north-central Idaho.

Fish Creek, considered by many to be the most important steelhead stream in Idaho. Photo: Chuck Pezeshki

First, however, an explanation of the latest trend undertaken by the US Forest Service is in order. This agency has belatedly recognized the fact that far too many roads have been built on our national forests and that something must be done to improve watersheds degraded by those roads and associated activities like logging. However, the agency has purposely equated restoration with logging. The Forest Service robs Peter to pay Paul by proposing activities that degrade watersheds--road building and logging--in the same decision that removes roads. The agency has so indoctrinated itself with this seemingly clever ruse that it cannot tell the difference between real restoration and logging!

The North Lochsa Face project on the Clearwater National Forest was recently approved and it includes a very large logging component, some 42 million board feet. This project is a real mix, a lot of bad mixed in with some good road restoration. This project area centers around Fish Creek, a tributary of the Lochsa River. While the Forest Service, to its credit, did not decide to log in the unroaded part of Fish Creek (an area included in NREPA), a couple of large logging areas are in a portion of the headwaters that is lightly roaded. The Fish Creek drainage is considered by many to be the most important steelhead stream in Idaho. Several organizations jointly appealed the destructive parts of this decision, including Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Ecology Center, the Lands Council, and the Idaho Sporting Congress. Two other separate appeals were filed, one by the Nez Perce Tribe and one by Advocates for the West on behalf of the Idaho Conservation League and the Wilderness Society. The Forest Service upheld the decision and legal options are being considered

Another project, just approved, is the Middle Black, also on the Clearwater National Forest. Like the North Lochsa Face, it is a mixed bag with both good and bad. It was originally proposed under an illogical logging for elk idea that would have had severe impacts to water quality and proposed wilderness. While no logging of conifer trees has been proposed for wilderness units in NREPA, chainsaws will be used to fell small hardwood species in proposed wilderness. Conservationists are reviewing legal options as well.

The Nez Perce National Forest officials recently issued a decision on its Meadow Face Project, a degraded watershed that flows into the South Fork of the Clearwater, home to salmon, steelhead and bull trout. This project would violate Forest Plan soil standards and log stands of trees set aside in the Forest Plan for protection as older forests. This decision is reckless and shows the agency has abandoned good stewardship on these areas. Furthermore, some of the positive projects designed to reduce sediment into streams have already been used as mitigation on other timber sales, yet it appears they are being counted twice. The Nez Perce Tribe filed an appeal as did Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Ecology Center, the Lands Council, and the Idaho Sporting Congress.

Clean Slate, also on the Nez Perce National Forest, is located in Slate Creek, a crucial tributary to the Salmon River and home to bull trout, steelhead and salmon. It, like others, will likely be a crazy grab bag of good and bad. It will almost certainly propose logging some land included for wilderness in NREPA adjacent to the Gospel Hump Wilderness.

Finally, the Idaho Panhandle National Forest is just starting its analysis on a portion of the upper St. Joe River, calling the project Quartz Gold. It includes an area proposed for wilderness just north of the Mallard-Larkins. The St. Joe River is a Wild and Scenic River with clean water. The area is remote but much of it has been heavily logged in the past. To get more information on this project contact St. Joe Ranger District, PO Box 407, St. Maries, ID 83861-0407.

Mill owners, who have closed or are threatening to close their mills for economic reasons and because logging has not been sustainable, are blaming conservationists. It is ironic because conservationists have, for years, warned of the problems of unsustainable logging practices and it has come true. The Forest Service is packaging huge projects by slipping massive timber sales into proposals that include needed watershed restoration. Citizens must remain vigilant to keep our waters clear and clean and our forests wild and vertical.