By Brandt Mannchen
On April 13th two tornadoes touched down in Davy Crockett National Forest. About 4,000 acres of forest were affected by the tornadoes. The Houston Regional Group and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club (Sierra Club) were notified by the U.S. Forest Service (FS) on April 16th about the blowdown.
On April 22, 2019, the Sierra Club and Texas Conservation Alliance (TCA) met with the FS to discuss and tour areas where there was tornado damage. The Sierra Club was told by the FS to get comments in quickly because the FS intended to begin salvage logging in late May or early June. The FS stated it would consider the Sierra Club’s comments and provide a response and contact it for a tour once salvage logging began. On April 24th, the Sierra Club submitted comments to the FS. Some of the comments were:
1) Restraint was recommended so that mistakes are not made, “This go faster attitude could result in logging that does not have minimal environmental impacts and which does not implement mitigation measures as effectively as possible.”
“The Sierra Club lived through the 1998 Windstorm project debacle. We saw how a lack of restraint caused the FS to make mistakes which allowed logging that damaged special management areas, Natural Heritage Areas, and riparian zones. The Sierra Club does not want this to happen again and assumes that the FS feels the same way. One way to ensure this does not happen is to slow down and do mitigation right. Speed should be secondary to doing mitigation right!”
2) Recognize the role and importance of natural disturbance regimes.
3) Leave as many biological legacies (large living and dead trees, large logs, intact thickets of understory vegetation, other vascular vegetation surviving in the form of seeds, rhizomes, and rootstocks, well-developed topsoils and duff layers, and residual populations of animals) as possible.
4) Principles for maintenance of key ecological processes and forest biodiversity should be used including: maintenance of connectivity for biota/ecological processes; landscape heterogeneity; structural complexity in forest stands; integrity of aquatic ecosystems/hydrological processes; and utilization of natural disturbances as a guide for management activities.
5) Protect naturally disturbed, un-salvaged, early successional habitat. This is an important and rare habitat in forests.
6) Plan now for post-disturbance restoration.
7) Protect and restore the 4 C’s Trail.
8) Monitor and measure the success of environmental impact mitigation measures.
9) Shortleaf Pine restoration must contain indicators like native species of grasses, herbaceous plants, and understory and mid-story plants.
10) Consider the effects salvage logging has on climate change.
After the Sierra Club submitted comments it did not hear from the FS. In early July, the Sierra Club contacted the FS and asked about a tour, what decision had been made, and how the FS responded to its comments. The FS apologized and said that follow-through had fallen through the cracks. A tour of salvage logged areas occurred on July 22nd. The Sierra Club learned the following:
1) About 20% of salvage logging has been done.
2) Wet weather has slowed salvage logging.
3) The FS may wait a year and see what grows on sites because it does not know what is in the seedbed. Understory restoration may include Little Bluestem, Rattlesnake Master, sunflower, and other herbaceous plantings.
4) Restoration may occur on sandy areas first because they are high/dry and were salvage logged first.
5) The FS wants to retain heterogeneity (diversity) on the landscape so that there are areas of upland hardwood trees and hardwood stream-side zones.
6) Some areas should be left alone as controls so they can be studied as they naturally regenerate.
7) An ephemeral stream on the tour may have had its buffer zone logged. Additional guidance and monitoring of loggers is appropriate to ensure that stream buffers are maintained.
8) Log landings may be reseeded with Shortleaf Pine via hand planting and or natural regeneration.
9) The 4C's Trail has not been salvage logged yet so restoration has not occurred.
10) Of the 4,000 acres that had tornado damage, about 2200 acres, in a best-case scenario, will be logged.
11) If the weather remains dry, salvage logging will finish about the beginning of October.
12) Additional work is needed to clean-up logging roads and landings.
13) Destroyed Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) clusters have been replaced in nearby pine uplands that have artificial cavity inserts. Continuity is needed for clusters damaged or destroyed so birds have a better chance of survival.
The Sierra Club will continue its monitoring of salvage logging and restoration of logged areas.