New Plan for Managing Headwaters; Don’t Like It? Here’s How to Protest It

Headwaters Redwoods

Under the plan amendment, the BLM could thin trees up to 24 inches in diameter, use prescribed fire, and remove thinned material to reduce the accumulation of hazardous fuels. The proposed changes to the Headwaters Forest Reserve restoration and fire management programs build on recent research done in Headwaters and elsewhere within the redwood region. [Photo from BLM]

Press release:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened a 30-day protest period on a proposed resource management plan amendment and environmental analysis for the Headwaters Forest Reserve near Eureka.

The BLM manages the reserve in partnership with the California Department of Wildlife for the use and benefit of current and future generations, supporting conservation as part of its multiple-use mission. The BLM and CDFW have been managing the reserve under a management plan completed in 2004.

Those who participated in the planning process for the plan amendment can submit written protests to the addresses provided in the announcement found at the BLM’s ePlanning website athttp://bit.ly/2rSzCda.

The BLM must receive protests by Monday, July 24, 2107.

Under the plan amendment, the BLM could thin trees up to 24 inches in diameter, use prescribed fire, and remove thinned material to reduce the accumulation of hazardous fuels. The proposed changes to the Headwaters Forest Reserve restoration and fire management programs build on recent research done in Headwaters and elsewhere within the redwood region. The agencies proposed the changes to accelerate development of old-growth forest characteristics in areas that were logged prior to the establishment of the reserve in 1999.

The Headwaters Forest Reserve contains 7,472 acres of public land six miles southeast of Eureka. It is set aside to protect and preserve ecological and wildlife values, particularly the stands of old-growth redwood that provide habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet (a seabird), and stream systems that provide habitat for threatened Coho salmon and steelhead.

More information is available at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=71600, or by telephoning David Fuller at the BLM’s Arcata Field Office, (707) 825-2315, or emailing [email protected].

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Bushytails
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Bushytails
6 years ago

Sounds fine to me.

TwoFingers
Guest
TwoFingers
6 years ago

Read why they are doing it. Sounds awesome.

Kathi
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Kathi
6 years ago

The native Americans used fire to maintain the forest’s health and to prevent disastrous fires. I am glad that it is going to be applied to the forests we want to preserve. BuhBye Smokey!

hmm
Guest
hmm
6 years ago

As long as the thinned trees are left there to return to the soil, and not used for profit, its seem ok.

Local
Guest
Local
6 years ago

As long as the thinned trees are used for profit to manage the forrest and not left to rot

Actual Old School
Guest
Actual Old School
6 years ago

I can understand why it’s desired to accelerate towards old-growth characteristics in the cut-over areas. The northern spotted owl is really endangered these days. Encroachment by the barred owl is the major problem now. Down in the wilderness area of South Fork Eel Headwaters (Cahto and Elkhorn) I saw two barred owls last month. This area was preserved largely in a strategy to help recover populations of northern spotted owls and so these sightings made me sad. Will old growth forests give the spotted owl an edge to survive? That remains to be seen. But more habitat for marbled murrelet and a return of fire to the forest are good things. If the thinned trees are allowed to degrade into the forest soil- that’s a good thing. But any new roads to facilitate this plan- Not good. The only way to manage people and their destruction is unfortunately to not make it easy for them to get there in the first place!

Trillium Hummingbird
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Trillium Hummingbird
6 years ago

Leave it the fuck alone, and stay out.

Douglas Fir
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Douglas Fir
6 years ago

When did the language “public comment period” turn into “protest period?”

Last Breath
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Last Breath
6 years ago

Pacific Lumber’s forest growth experimental plots demonstrate that BLM’s proposed harvest will drastically reduce the sequestration of carbon —-essentially forever, causing hypoxia in humans.

The Tibetans with their Denisovian genes tolerate hypoxia that results when much of the atmospheric oxygen is locked up with carbon into carbon dioxide. So, they will inherit the earth—-not Trumpeteers and greed heads.

Hold BLM and fossil fuelers accountable for destruction of the lungs of the planet! Or sentence your children and grandchildren to die of hypoxia—the choice is yours.