Sustainable Forestry

To Listserv manager:

Below is to be shared as you see appropriate with others on the Fostering Sustainability Practices listserv - regarding sustainable practices in forest health. Billie-Gwen Russell Sustainability Coordinator Washington State Parks Wildfire Fuel Reduction-Forest Health Project DRAFT - SUMMARY 8/2005 (Our agency has moved forward on this project, below is a draft overview a year old). Washington State Parks proposes to reduce fuel levels and the potential for catastrophic wildfire, while improving forest health on approximately 392 acres of forested land within Lake Wenatchee State Park. The project will use a suite of treatments to modify forest structure and composition throughout Lake Wenatchee State Park in an effort to reduce wildfire risk, improve wildlife habitat, enhance visitor experience, and in general return the forest to a more natural, pre-fire suppressed, fire-tolerant condition. Treatments will focus on the removal of ladder fuels (under story removal of dense fire-intolerant grand firs and the "pruning up" of residual pole-mature size stems), commercial thinning targeting the smaller trees in the canopy layer (emphasis on leaving large, healthy, fire-tolerant species such as ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir), and reducing ground-level fuel loads. Activities begin in winter 2004/2005 and will extend through December 2007. These practices are also used in a number of other parks in Washington. The Stewardship section has hired new staff and is focusing more funds of healthy forests and native plants.

Dr. Robert Fimbel of State Parks has written a book and some articles on forest practices see links below. He is the program lead at WA State Parks in this area; his background and current work with the UW as well as State parks highlighted in links below. http://www.cfr.washington.edu/people/affiliate_faculty.asp http://www.parks.wa.gov/stewardship.asp http://www.parks.wa.gov/interp.asp
Article http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1016/is_n3-4_v98/ai_1210988 2 Book - The Cutting Edge: Conserving Wildlife in Logged Tropical Forests (Biology and Resource Management Series) http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0231114559

Billie-Gwen Russell

Sustainability Coord.
Washington State Parks
360 902-8541