By Brandt Mannchen
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need to protect people, for the past 8 months the national Sierra Club has halted staff and volunteers from having face-to-face meetings, events, and outings. This necessary strategy has made communication with the U.S. Forest Service (FS) about important projects and observations in the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas difficult.
When the Sierra Club got an invitation from the District Ranger of Davy Crockett National Forest (DCNF), to attend an in-the-field meeting about the Beaver Creek Wildlife Improvement Project (BCWIP), which would follow Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines about Covid-19 (masks and social distance), as Forest Management Issue Chair for the Lone Star Chapter, I wanted to go.
I contacted the Chapter’s Conservation Director and Interim Director, and asked how I could get national Sierra Club’s approval to attend this meeting. He sent my request to the Program Safety Team that works to keep Sierra Club staff, volunteers, and the public safe.
I was not sure that I would get approval to attend this meeting in DCNF, but wanted to try. To my surprise, I received approval in 5 weeks. I was very appreciative of the approval and was determined to make a good impression as the representative of the Sierra Club at the meeting.
I had already submitted BCWIP scoping comments for the Lone Star Chapter on August 14th. The BCWIP as proposed would affect over 11,000 acres in DCNF in Houston County, Texas. Some of what the BCWIP proposes is:
1. Implement hardwood removal; 2. Thin and harvest pine trees to reduce density with chainsaws or mechanized equipment like feller-bunchers; 3. Prescribe burn to control hardwoods; 4. Conduct treatments on 5,139 acres in Management Area (MA) – 1, Upland Forest Ecosystems; 5. Conduct treatments on 6,382 acres in MA-2, Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) Emphasis; 6. Establish protective buffers on ephemeral, intermittent, and perennial streams and wetlands; 7. Create up to 500 log landings; 8. Plant native trees; 9. Mulch brush and other vegetation; 10. Conduct road maintenance; 11. Construct one mile of low standard road; and construct fire lines.
Some of the Sierra Club scoping comments were: 1. A request for collaboration with the FS; 2. Manage MA-1 forests different than MA-2 forests including the retention of native hardwood ecosystems; 3. Protect and manage old/large pine trees via an old tree protection plan; 4. Protect the 4 C’s Trail from logging with a 50-foot no logging buffer zone on both sides of the trail; 5. Protect biodiversity with variable density thinning; 6. Prepare a climate change ecological resilience and resistance plan (CCERRP); 7. Leave a certain number of snags and coarse woody debris; 8. Create a natural mosaic with prescribed burning; and 9. Maximize streamside protection zones.
On October 20th I got up early and left my Humble, Texas home and drove two hours and fifteen minutes to the DCNF office. There were nine of us, we got a safety talk from the FS, lined up our cars in a caravan, and took off for the woods!
From 9 am to 2 pm we drove on dirt and gravel roads through DCNF and made about 5 or 6 stops. The day was cool, mild, and felt delightful. We discussed the pros and cons of the proposal.
Some of the concerns that the Sierra Club and our friends at the Texas Conservation Alliance discussed with the FS included no logging or use of heavy soil-impacting equipment where hurricanes already reduced tree density; protection of stream terraces as hardwood dominated wetlands or unique areas, no removal of hardwoods in MA-1; and provision of a 50-foot no logging buffer on both sides of the 4 C’s Trail.
By the time the day ended I felt that a clear statement to the FS had been made about what was important to the Sierra Club in DCNF. The FS understood our concerns better and we theirs. It was a good meeting and the beginning of a collaborative effort that will be further defined in the future.
I am glad that the Sierra Club allowed me to represent it and the forest (the Sierra Club speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves) at the DCNF meeting. Protection of our planet does not stop, even during a pandemic. Thank goodness for the forest and the Sierra Club!