Some gains negotiated for Lower Rock Creek
by Caroline Pufalt
In prior issues of this newsletter we discussed our administrative appeal of the new Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) plan. The Missouri chapter, along with other citizen conservation organizations, filed an administrative appeal of the 2005 Mark Twain National Forest Management plan. See the Oct-Dec 2006 Missouri Sierran issue for an explanation of key issues in our appeal.
The Forest Service appeal process provides for the possibility of negotiation with the Regional Forester while at the same time the U.S. Forest Service Office of the Chief conducts a review of the appeal. In our case the Regional Forester is located in Minneapolis and the USFS Chief is in Washington, DC.
In early 2006 we embarked on negotiations with the Regional Forester along with our fellow appellants: Heartwood, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Missouri Wilderness Coalition, the L.A.D Foundation, Missouri Forest Alliance, Ozark Riverkeepers and Goods from the Woods. Our negotiations soon took a detour due to a proposed project by the MTNF in the Lower Rock Creek area.
Lower Rock Creek is one of the “roadless areas” we were trying to gain additional protection for in our appeal. Lower Rock Creek is one of the largest and least roaded wild areas in the MTNF. The Forest Service proposal included salvage timber sales and prescribed burns in the area. The prescribed burn plan involved building fire lines and the proposed use of dozers in constructing part of that line. The prescribed burn process raised concerns about the creation of roads, or at least what the agency would later consider roads in the Lower Rock Creek area. Unfortunately our experience with the Mark Twain National Forest in regard to roadless area criteria led us to realize we could not rely on the Forest Service for a reasonable and accurate interpretation of on the ground issues. This was also a key issue in our appeal.
Thanks to all the Missouri Sierrans who responded to our request for input to the Forest Service on the protection of Lower Rock Creek. We were able to achieve modification of the proposed Lower Rock Creek project to limit the salvage logging and minimize the use of dozers in creation of the fire line.
Unfortunately we were not successful in achieving any significant negotiated changes based on our appeal. A key issue was the agency's interpretation of roadless area guidelines and their misapplication in the Forest Plan. The agency ended negotiations late in Dec 2006. In Feb 2007 we received a copy of the U.S.F.S.Chief's review of our appeal and the Chief sided with the Mark Twain National Forest management on all issues. The full response can be viewed athttp://www.fs.fed.us/emc/applit/includes/woappdec/twain_decision.pdf.
Negotiations like this are difficult. At times it was not easy to wade through the plan issues and keep our eye on our goals.
We thank our fellow appellants for their efforts. We and several of our fellow appellants are now looking at an effort to achieve Wilderness status for some of the areas of concern in the prior 1986 and current 2005 plan. See accompanying article regarding that topic.Please contact Carolyn Pufalt if you are interested in helping with Missouri Sierra Club's forest issues: cpufalt@sbcglobal.net, (314) 721-7207.