An Afternoon at Dukes Forest
I met up with TV-6 News reporter Tom Flannigan Saturday morning, November 12, 2005, at the Dead River Coffee House, along with friends Matt, Kim, Traci, and Steve for our field outing. Barb joined us at Dukes, and then another local woman, outraged by the proposed cut, came along a little later. I rode with Tom on the 25-mile trip to verse him on the controversy he was about to see.
Dukes Experimental Forest is a 5,000 acre tract within the Hiawatha National Forest, just east of the town of Skandia. It was given to the National Forest by Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company in 1926 to set up forestry demonstrations. A wide range of timber-cutting "prescriptions" have been applied through the decades.According to Forest Service documents, the last cutting occurred in 1974. A Research Natural Area (RNA) of more that 300 acres of virgin hardwoods serves as a control plot. One reason for maintaining this piece of forest in its natural state is to compare it to other stands that are cut. This was our first stop.
In May 2005, the Hiawatha sent out a Scoping Notice on the proposed cut at Dukes. Research that stopped in 1981 - 24 years ago - was to be restarted. The letter went on to say that the new research is "routine" and since they considered it "non-controversial" they would take initial comments for 30 days, but there would be no other comment period. An Environmental Assessment would be issued with a Decision Notice. The public would be allowed to appeal this decision.
Included in the plan is to log an area between the road and the virgin forest. When we arrived, we found trees already marked for cutting. However, the "public process" hadn't ended, and a "decision" not issued yet. It wasn't the first time I'd been to sales marked before a "decision" was supposedly made. However, NWR did challenge this practice in the Ottawa National Forest in the early 1990's, and hasn't encountered a timber sale marked before the end of the public comment period in more than a decade. Until now.
I showed the marked trees to reporter Tom and talked about the public process and how the Ranger is supposed to consider all factors, including public opinion and input, before making a decision. I also talked about how the public process was a hard-won right and a fundamental building-block of democracy. Being able to voice opinions and challenge bad agency decisions is necessary for the public to exercise its duty to protect the commons. Over the past few years, the Bush administration has been re-writing environmental laws to lessen resource protection and restrict public input. Public participation on this proposed cut was truncated and a result of National Forest Management Act rules and regulations being re-written.
Tom spent almost an hour videotaping the forest and interviewing Traci, Barb, and me. Despite having very little knowledge of National Forest timber sales and how they are conducted, Tom picked up things quickly and asked many good and challenging questions about the Dukes sale. He had to leave to work on his story about the trip for the evening news.
We spent a little more time hiking here and then headed to the south end of the sale, which was right across the road from Barb's house. First we drove a 2-track road which is signed to explain the different cutting methods. Here we saw more timber marking, and stumps from some recently-cut trees, probably a result of timber theft. National Forest timber theft is commonplace and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
We refueled at Barb's house with soup and hot chocolate and headed across the road to look at more of the sale. Here, we viewed "group selection" cuts. Group selection is basically a small clearcut, perhaps 150 to 200 feet across. It is intended to bring a lot of sunlight to the hardwood saplings left behind. Here we learned that the trees were marked last winter, several months before the Forest Service first announced its plans! So much for public input!
Theresa Chase, the Munising District Ranger, is the official responsible for this sale and the one who decided to short-cut the public process.
She can be reached by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 906-387-2512.