Page 344 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

10 100 In the pages of Science and
elsewhere, scientific criticisms of the
Woody fuels (Mg/ha) 6 Woody fuels (Mg/ha) 60 yet many felt that the study’s conclu-
80
8
study’s methods were largely rebutted,
sions stretched beyond what its short-
term data could support. Scientists on
40
4
both sides of the debate agreed that
2
long-term research was needed to fully
20
assess the effects of salvage logging on
0 0
Not Burned Burned & Not Burned Burned & forest regeneration and fire risk.
burned only logged burned only logged Two studies by different OSU
(a) Fine fuels (b) Coarse fuels forestry scientists soon provided the first
such long-term data. Jeffrey Shatford
FIGURE 2 Burned sites that were salvage-logged (orange bar) contained more fine and colleagues documented widespread
(a) and coarse (b) woody debris than unlogged burned sites or sites that did not natural regrowth of conifers across areas
burn. Data from Donato, D.C., et al., 2006. Post-wildfire logging hinders regeneration and increases
fire risk. Science 311: 352, Fig 1B. Reprinted with permission from AAAS. of Oregon and northern California that
had burned 9–19 years earlier. And
Jonathan Thompson and colleagues
stop publication of the paper—actions highly unusual action drew media atten- examined satellite data, aerial photogra-
that were widely condemned as an tion, and the BLM reinstated the funding. phy, and government records for regions
attempt at censorship. A heated debate roiled for months within the Biscuit Fire area that had
The paper’s publication in 2006 in the OSU College of Forestry. The burned in a previous fire 15 years earlier.
unleashed a torrent of bizarre events. college receives 12% of its funding from They found that of the regions burned in
U.S. Congressmen Greg Walden of taxes on timber sales, leading many to that 1987 fire, those that were salvage
Oregon and Brian Baird of Washington suggest that the college is open to influ- logged burned more severely in 2002
felt the paper threatened legislation they ence from industry. E-mail correspond- than regions that were not logged. In a
had sponsored to accelerate salvage ence was subpoenaed and showed paper in the Proceedings of the National
logging. Walden and Baird called the the college’s dean, Hal Salwasser, Academy of Sciences, Thompson’s
29-year-old Donato and others before collaborating with timber industry team concluded that salvage logging
a hearing of the House of Representa- representatives to refute the paper. As increases the risk of severe fires, even
tives’ Committee on Resources and publicity built, the college’s reputation when debris is removed and seedlings
grilled them before a packed crowd in suffered, and a faculty committee on are manually planted.
Medford, Oregon. academic freedom criticized Salwasser As more long-term studies on
The Bureau of Land Manage- for “significant failures of leadership.” the impacts of salvage logging are
ment (BLM) then suspended the team’s The dean admitted mistakes, survived conducted, we should become better
research grant, in what many viewed a no-confidence vote of the faculty, and able to manage our forests in an age of
as a response to political pressure. This pledged to make reforms. increasingly frequent wildfire. CHAPTER 12 • FOREST S, FOREST MAN A GEMENT, AND PR O TECTED AREAS

Congress declared that wilderness areas were needed Upper Peninsula, several wilderness areas are designated in
“to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by the Hiawatha and Ottawa National Forests, one in Pictured
expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not Rocks National Lakeshore, and one in Seney National
occupy and modify all areas . . . leaving no lands designated Wildlife Refuge. Overall there are more than 750 wilder-
for preservation and protection in their natural condition.” ness areas totaling 44 million ha (110 million acres). These
Despite these words, some preexisting extractive land uses, cover 5% of U.S. land area (2.7% if Alaska is excluded).
such as grazing and mining, were allowed to continue within
some wilderness areas as a political compromise so the act Not everyone supports land set-asides
could be passed.
Wilderness areas are established within national forests, The restriction of activities in wilderness areas has gen-
national parks, national wildlife refuges, and land managed by erated some opposition to U.S. land protection poli-
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). They are overseen cies, especially among citizens and policymakers in
by the agencies that administer those areas. In Michigan’s western states. When these states came into existence, the 343

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